Some say the universe listens when you dream big; others believe it conspires to make those dreams a reality. For Team USA’s men’s basketball squad, Paris 2024 felt like destiny in motion. Under the watchful eye of Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr, the USA didn’t just chase history – they seized it. A five-peat. Five straight gold medals. The kind of dominance that cements legacies and echoes through time. Yet, one question still lingers, unsettling fans, to this day—why did Jayson Tatum watch history unfold from the bench?

JT arrived in Paris ready to shine, sharing the court with some of the NBA’s biggest stars. Game after game, he watched from the bench, leaving fans stunned and searching for answers. Yes, he did play from the bench and averaged around five points. But, don’t you think even the coaches have a tough time picking a lineup? Imagine benching the fresh NBA champ on the biggest stage of sports. Yes, that must be hard.

Steve Kerr’s struggles take center stage as Jayson Tatum’s snub takes

Fresh off an NBA championship with the Celtics in 2024, Jayson Tatum’s absence on the court felt almost surreal. Why would Steve Kerr bench one of his fiercest forwards? Was JT not “good enough” to run with seven future Hall of Famers? What was going through the legendary coach’s mind when he made that call? Well, we might finally have some answers—or at least a glimpse of them.

In Netflix’s latest documentary, Court of Gold, Kerr cracks open the door to his thoughts. The short series nosedives into Team USA’s Paris journey, revealing unseen moments and untold stories. And yes, Kerr finally speaks his mind. In Episode 3 (-25:33), Steve Kerr, 59, pulls back the curtain on the weight of his job. The pressure, the decisions, the endless what-ifs—it all hits before every game. Picking a starting five from a pool of the world’s best isn’t just strategy; it’s a battle of tough choices. And as Kerr admits, it’s never easy.

The mastermind coach said: “I think the hardest part of the job for me is playing time. Even picking the rotations, you know. How do you put seven Hall of Famers on the bench? I’ve told the team, ‘This is hard for us, too. It’s hard for you to not play. It’s hard for us to not play you.'”

Meanwhile, Kerr tried to help the audience understand what this was about. “Basketball is just basketball,” Steve noted. “There are so many more important things going on in the world. And yet, when we’re on the court, it is the most important thing. It matters to be your best self. It matters to be part of something special, it matters to put something on the floor that can make people happy.”

Building a roster for Team USA’s historic five-peat wasn’t easy, even for Steve Kerr. He had a mix of battle-tested champions—Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, and Jayson Tatum—all from the golden Tokyo 2020 squad. But then came a new twist: Stephen Curry, making his long-awaited Olympic debut. With so much talent and so few spots, every decision mattered.

A little sacrifice here, a little compromise there—Steve Kerr navigated the storm and came out on top. Leading Team USA to its fifth straight gold, LeBron James and company etched their names in history. But the Court of Gold takes us back to a moment that still lingers. In November 2024, before a Warriors-Celtics clash at TD Garden, Kerr finally broke his silence on Tatum’s limited minutes in Paris. And now, that conversation feels more relevant than ever.

Coach Kerr addressed his tough decision in November at TD Garden

The absence of Boston’s star forward became one of the most talked-about moments of their 2024 Olympic run. Then, just ahead of a heated Warriors-Celtics matchup at TD Garden, Coach Steve Kerr finally spoke up, shedding light on Tatum’s benching and the decision that had fans buzzing.

“Do I have any regrets? We can’t control the story. That’s this job,” Kerr said, reflecting on the tough decisions that marked Team USA’s gold medal journey. He continued, “From the beginning in Vegas, the whole thing was, ‘Hey, we’re in this together. We’ve got 12 Hall of Famers and we’re just committed to winning.'” Still, the benchings weighed on him.

“I didn’t enjoy not playing Jayson against Serbia, not playing Joel [Embiid] against South Sudan.” Despite these hard calls, Kerr praised his team: “Our guys were all amazing. They committed to each other, they committed to winning the gold medal… They all held themselves with dignity and class. That’s the real story. But we live in a time where we have to talk about stuff that actually doesn’t really matter.”

Ultimately, Steve Kerr’s decisions went beyond basketball—they were about leadership and sacrifice. While Tatum’s benching sparked debate, Kerr’s honesty in the Court of Gold reveals the tough choices behind it.

“It’s not about regrets,” he said, but about winning as a team. Team USA’s fifth gold wasn’t just about the medal, but the unity and dignity they showed. Though some moments will be debated, the real story is clear: they came together, conquered, and made history.