Despite Team USAB’s dominant run in the Paris Olympics so far, experts aren’t quite happy with them. Notably, coach Steve Kerr has received a lot of backlash throughout the campaign for various reasons, starting from the pre-Olympic exhibition games. It doesn’t seem to stop even after dominating the threatening South Sudan in the last game. This time, the veteran analyst Stephen A. Smith picked up the mic and trashed the champion coach with a 10-minute rant.

In the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the veteran didn’t let anything slip away easily. He said, “He’s (Tatum) the real deal. He is not somebody that you sit on the bench. 17 minutes, just four points, and all of this stuff the other day. So what? I don’t give a damn if he scores no points. He can’t have zero minutes because you got 10 dudes that should be out there before him. That’s nonsensical.” 

One of the controversial decisions that Kerr took during this campaign was giving zero playing minutes for Jayson Tatum against Team Serbia. The Boston Celtics star was seen cheering for the team from the sidelines with a straight face. Following the game, the reigning NBA champion shrugged it off, describing it as a “humbling experience”.

The 56-year-old not only called Kerr’s decision ‘nonsensical’ but also ripped the Bay Area legend. Smith continued, “Steve Kerr is so righteous how he go from playing zero minutes to being in the starting lineup in the next game because you know you shouldn’t have that sh*t, to begin with. Period.” 

Before the Jayson Tatum controversy, the media was behind Steve Kerr for trusting Joel Embiid in the starting line for way too long despite his slump. However, Kerr seemed to have rectified both mistakes in one game, by starting with JT and benching Embiid with zero minutes against South Sudan.

Did Steve Kerr’s decision hurt Jayson Tatum?

The NBA Champion clarified his emotions after the game, saying, “You win a championship, new contract, NBA 2K25 cover, Sports Illustrated… so after all of this, it’s definitely a humbling experience.” However, Stephen A. Smith considered it as a diplomatic answer to cover up his actual emotions.

In his rant, Smith stood for JT and said, “Just because he was class personified and professional and called it a ‘humbling experience’ for him doesn’t mean, he wasn’t pissed off, doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt, doesn’t mean he wasn’t embarrassed.” It’s certainly a comforting voice for Tatum amid the flurry of trolls he has faced since he lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy. Notably, meme culture repeatedly targeted him for copying the celebrations and almost disregarded the star forward’s efforts.

However, on the other end, JT’s response to Steve Kerr’s decision didn’t sit well with a Fox Sports veteran. While A. Smith considered Tatum’s response as class and professional, Doug Gottlieb found it otherwise.

In his latest show, Gottlieb said, “It’s not humbling. You’ve not been humbled because then you read off some sort of resume like any of us give a cr*p… I’m just gonna tell you right now how it reads to me. I’m sitting here as a coach and I’ll tell you, Jayson Tatum seems like a colossal pain in the a** .”

Nevertheless, Steve Kerr will have a tough time accommodating multiple superstars in a game that requires only 5 players on the court at a time.

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