NBA championship, 2K25 cover appearance, and an Olympic gold — Jayson Tatum had it all in 2024 but playing time in Paris. Not only did Tatum average just 17.7 minutes per game in his Olympic run but he was completely snubbed in 2 games against Serbia. With the defending NBA champ facing drastically reduced minutes, the NBA community was bound to come down hard on coach Steve Kerr. Boston Celtics great Paul Pierce even termed the benching against Serbia as a “slap in the face” for Tatum.

Meanwhile, NBA legend Bob Cousy accused Team USA coach of having a bias against the Celtics. Recently, however, former Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace has shielded Kerr against all the hate he received. In fact, Sheed claimed it all to be a favor for Tatum on Kerr’s part. “Because it’s like, ‘Go ahead and rest up, dawg. You are NBA champ. We know you are great. You and your teammates, you all the top of the game right now,'” Wallace said on the Sheed & Tyler podcast.

He argued players like Derrick White and Jrue Holiday did not have the pressure of being the main men of their team as Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown did. Missing out the context on what this has to do with Tatum getting less play time? Well, Wallace did not do a great job connecting the dots. But it seems he was referring to the fact that benching took the pressure of proving himself again off for Tatum.

“I wouldn’t be mad… I did come off of, like, playing 15,000 minutes… Yeah, I don’t mind going out here, playing a couple games,” Rasheed tried explaining what he would’ve felt had he been in Tatum’s spot.

Sheed further argued that might as well be what Steve also thought. According to Wallace, in a way, Kerr let Tatum rest his body for the upcoming training camp. “Yo, ‘Go ahead and relax… You already proved you a great player by winning the f*cking NBA championship. You’re better than everybody else on our team… Yeah, you the king this year,'” Sheed’s words, had he been in Kerr’s place.

Whatever Wallace may say, his reasoning seems to be flawed considering what the Warriors coach had said during an interview shared by Olympics.com. As per the article, Steve had told his team to forget their NBA experience.

This included the playing time they received in the league and the roles they preferred. “We’ve got options for everything. And we’re going to use those options how we best see fit,” he said after calling the NBA regular season a soap opera. No wonder Bonzi Wells disagreed with Wallace’s opinion. Like the majority of the NBA community, he just viewed the whole thing as a disrespect to Tatum.

What did Jayson Tatum have to say on the entire issue?

The first reaction by the Celtics star on being benched against Serbia was to call it a “humbling experience”. Especially this experience coming after an NBA championship win and being on the 2K25 cover. However, in more recent media interaction, it seems he has embraced the whole Olympics experience even better.

“I wasn’t moping around. I didn’t have an attitude… Wasn’t angry at the world,” he told Jared Weiss of The Athletic. He further highlighted the fact that’s most important in all of this — having two gold medals now. The 26-year-old seemed to have grasped the concept that things will not always go your way. But what about the actual reason behind limited playing time for Jayson Tatum?

Well, Kerr emphasized that the decision had nothing to do with the Celtics star’s performance. He stated it to be a “Math problem”, where it’s just not possible for everyone to play from a team that has 12 NBA stars. This clears it that it was anything but a “favor” to Tatum, as perceived by Rasheed Wallace.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.