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.

One fan rubbed salt on the wound, writing,

“lol just when we play Serbia.” Notably, Kerr benched Tatum for two games and both were played against Nikola Jokić & Co. On the other hand, a few fans supported JT. A fan accused Kerr of hating Tatum, “Man this tweet is proof at just how dirty Steve Kerr did @jaytatum0 by not finding the dude 5 mins a game in 2 games for some reason. He must just fu*king hate him so much. Wild.”

Notably, fans really seemed enraged when Kerr said, 

“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson; it’s what I’ve seen from the other guys,” after the semi-final game against Serbia. Nevertheless, fans can’t really do anything about it as the team won the gold medal. Another fan simply showed their solidarity with Tatum, despite belonging to the rival side. “As a Lakers fan, I approve of his message.Amidst all this controversy, will Steve Kerr continue as Team USA coach in the next cycle? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below. 

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.