With only a few weeks left for the NBA season, the Paris Olympics controversy still follows Steve Kerr. He probably had his stars aligned perfectly having coached one of the most dominant teams in basketball history. And won the gold medal as well. However, Kerr found himself amidst a controversial coaching decision involving Jayson Tatum, which nagged him throughout the tournament. While it settled down after the Paris trip, fans reignited it after his latest speech on Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention.

It’s certainly hard to form a second unit and player rotation for a roster that has 10 All-Stars. Ultimately, Kerr took the tough decision to reduce Jayson Tatum’s minutes and benched him for two games. Initially, when the press asked him about the decision to bench the Boston Celtics superstar, Kerr said, he “felt like an idiot.” But he continued to operate with the same plan. Nevertheless, the controversy died down for a while after the tournament.

However, it popped up again after he made a unique take during his speech at the DNC night. Steve Kerr called for the entire American population to play on the same team and support Kamala Harris. Specifically, he said, “Think about what our team achieved with 12 Americans in Paris putting aside rivalries to represent our country. Now imagine what we could do with all 330 million of us playing on the same team.” While the statement wasn’t anything related to the Jayson Tatum controversy, a reporter hit the nail.

“He did NOT specify whether Jayson Tatum could participate with the other 329,999,999 Americans,” journalist Jason Schwartz asked on his X account. Schwartz reignited the controversy surrounding Tatum, specially among NBA fans.

Fans rage with mixed reactions

One thing is certain, Jayson Tatum has both fans and haters. A look at the comments under Schwartz’s post will you a lot. “Tatum will be allowed back once he finds his jump shot,” one comment said. This fan went straight to the business, criticizing the Celtics star for his questionable shooting at Paris. JT had an underwhelming shooting percentage of 38.1 with an 8/21 FG and 0/4 from the arc.

Another comment reminded the fans of the Paris Olympics visuals. “Jayson can root from the sideline.” Even though Team USA had a dominant run in the tournament, meme pages and analysts were busy discussing JT’s DNP. Moreover, the images of a disappointed Tatum from the bench were widely circulated.