Did Team USA have a rough start to their Olympic journey? Well, ‘rough’ may be a bit of an understatement. Leading up to the Games, no one really thought Team USA would be in any danger. After all, it was the Dream Team 2.0. But their exhibition game against South Sudan – where LeBron James saved his team by a whisker to win 101-100 – proved they could be the Dream Team all they wanted, but they weren’t invincible.

On Thursday, The Shop podcast released a pre-recorded interview with the now-three-time gold medalist LeBron James. Considering the Olympics were ongoing at the time, Bron’s co-host Paul Rivera asked, “What have practices been like? How competitive have they been, and are you guys getting after it?” As the 20-time All-Star revealed, Team USA’s practices during training camp were extremely intense, complete with watching footage from the 1992 Dream Team‘s run.

Understandably, as the frequency of their games increased, the practices became more about ironing out the little things and fine-tuning. However, the 39-year-old revealed that he and his roster underwent a rigorous session in London during the exhibition series. Winning against South Sudan by just a one-point margin did not earn them any brownie points with Steve Kerr.

LeBron revealed, “Coach wasn’t happy with our performance the first time we played South Sudan. So, he kind of got at us, and we went at each other during practice.” Team USA faced a concerning setback in the initial part of the South Sudan matchup at O2 Arena, with missed shots and frequent turnovers. At halftime, they’d made only 1 out of 12 three-pointers; to top it all, they had a 14-point deficit (58-42).

Fortunately for the Americans, both LeBron James and Stephen Curry stepped up in the latter half, with the NBA’s all-time leading scorer making a majority of his game-high 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists in that time. As a result, the third quarter saw the US squad pulling off an 18-0 run to overturn a 65-76 deficit into a 79-76 lead. But with 20 seconds left on the clock, South Sudan’s JT Thor sunk a three-pointer to go up 100-99, and that’s when James stepped up yet again.

8 seconds on the clock. The basketball was in his hands. He ran down the lane and scored a layup against two defenders to give Team USA the victory. Steve Kerr may have said after the game that “the whole team was embarrassed at halftime to be totally outplayed and down 14,” but the blame quickly landed on the head coach. After all, this was the second time that Team USA had come close to breaking their winning streak, with Australia having given them enough trouble in the exhibition game prior to this one.

Fox Sports radio hosts Steve Hartman and Monse Bolanos even outright stated, “That was embarrassing. Honestly, if it were me, I would fire Steve Kerr right now. His mismanagement of this team is already evident.” Kerr stepped up and took responsibility: “I did not do a great job, I think we did not focus enough on what they are capable of, and that’s on me.” LeBron James’ revelation about the practice session following this game made it clear that Kerr wasn’t happy with the team. But James wasn’t happy with Kerr during the game.

Remember how crucial LeBron was to the 18-0 run in the third quarter? Well, Steve Kerr didn’t start the 39-year-old in the third quarter despite the fact that they were down by 14 points and that James was one of the only ones who’d stepped up in the first half. In the post-game presser, Kerr said, “I don’t think he was really thrilled about me not starting him the third quarter, but I thought that next group we put out there really did a good job defensively.”

He added, “I looked down a couple of times, and I could see LeBron chomping at the bit to be out on the floor. As soon as he got out there, he went to work. He was brilliant.” That said, following Team USA’s scare against South Sudan, they had a fairly straightforward run to the gold medal – the closest encounter being their 95-91 win against Serbia in the semifinals.

While any reaction from Steve Kerr might have been reasonable, it may have contributed to an alleged rise in tension in the locker room. Such a scenario would make it a second instance of this nature, right after the still-intense Jayson Tatum-Steve Kerr issue.

Does Jayson Tatum continue to feel haunted by Steve Kerr’s snub?

Going into the 2024 Paris Olympics, everyone, including Jayson Tatum, would have expected the Boston Celtics star to have a prominent role on the roster. After all, who wouldn’t want to put the reigning NBA champion at the forefront? Unfortunately, in Team USA’s six games, the Celtics star was benched for two, including the semifinals against Serbia.

The 71 minutes he accumulated in his national team’s gold medal run was half what LeBron James (147) and Stephen Curry (140) had spent on the court. With Steve Kerr’s decision to limit the Celtics star’s minutes earning him criticism from several sides of the NBA world, Tatum himself chose to speak about the decision.

In an interview with the New York Times, the 26-year-old revealed that it took time to adjust to the reality of the situation. It didn’t help that his snub had become a prominent topic of conversation in the NBA world: “You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever.”

“Obviously, I wanted to contribute more, and I’ve never been in [this] situation. I started playing basketball at 3 [years of age] at the YMCA, and I’ve never not played. So, it was different, and it was challenging,” revealed Tatum. While he chose not to name Steve Kerr, the Celtics man highlighted his own mindset in the aftermath of the Olympics: “I wasn’t moping around, I didn’t have an attitude, [and] I wasn’t angry at the world. I stayed ready and did what was asked of me, and I won a gold medal, right?”

Despite a perfect streak that led Team USA to the gold medal, the locker room was not without some intense moments. With Steve Kerr most likely not returning to lead Team USA at the next FIBA World Cup and Olympics, things may take a different turn.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.