With Team USA head coach Steve Kerr benching Jayson Tatum for the second time in the Paris Olympics, several fans were outraged at his decision. Despite him being one of the best players in the world, Kerr has been unable to find a fitting role for the Celtics superstar. Sure enough, Tatum’s mother Brandy Cole was the first one to raise concerns about the way her son is being treated on Team USA.

Post that, former Warriors’ star Matt Barnes echoed Brandy’s concern with a statement in Tatum’s favor. Ever since Tatum spent the entire semi-final on the sidelines, his mother has been very vocal on X. When a fan asked if JT was dealing with an injury because of which he is not getting enough playing time, she replied, “No he is not. But if you find out what’s going on, please let me know.” Then, she even deemed the whole situation “unacceptable and makes no sense.”

Even before this incident, Brandy expressed her anger by retweeting Celtics faithful Dan Greenberg’s controversial statement against Steve Kerr, “If Kerr is watching this and willingly deciding “Yeah, Jayson Tatum couldn’t help here” then he legitimately cannot coach in 2028.” While many fans understood her frustration, some defended Kerr’s decision by questioning Tatum’s talent, even bringing up his NBA Finals performance, “She act like he was the finals MVP.”

However, Matt Barnes came to JT’s rescue and gave the fan a fitting reply, “His number were better than the finals MVP.” Although Jaylen Brown took home the Finals MVP trophy when the Celtics won the title in June, the numbers suggest that JT had a better showing in the series.

In the finals, Brown averaged 20.8 points along with five assists and over five rebounds. Meanwhile, Tatum topped JB on all aspects with 22.2 points along with over seven rebounds and seven assists. So, it’s hard to fathom why a Finals MVP candidate is being forced to sit on the bench at the Olympics.

What did Steve Kerr say about benching Jayson Tatum?

With so many people, especially Tatum’s mother raising fingers at Kerr’s decision and publicly slamming him, he finally broke the silence and explained the reasoning behind it. “It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson; it’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” Kerr said, hinting that there is no personal vendetta involved in this situation.

Standing by what he said the last time Tatum was benched during the group stage, Kerr remarked, “Like I’ve said many times during this tournament and the last six weeks, it’s just hard to play 11 people, even in an NBA game.” Even during the group stage game against Serbia, Kerr went with the same lineup and benched Tatum and Haliburton due to matchup issues. And he has been taking such tough calls throughout the tournament with benching of players like Embiid and Holiday in other games.

“So, it’s not about what Jayson is doing or not doing. It’s just about combinations and the way that group has played together, the way Kevin (Durant) has filled in since he came back from his injury. It’s just a math problem more than anything.” With only one game remaining in the tournament, we will have to wait and see if the math problem gets Tatum on the court this time.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger!