Jayson Tatum: Steve Kerr USA Bankings Won’t Be A Factor In Deciding 2028 LA Olympics | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats & Rumors

For Jayson Tatum, the Olympics were frustrating, despite winning a gold medal, as the Boston Celtics star was forced to watch the last five games from the bench.

But despite Team USA coach Steve Kerr limiting Tatum’s role in the Olympics, he said he won’t base his decision on whether to compete in the 2028 Games on how this year goes.

“It was a tough personal experience on the field, but I’m not going to make a decision based on emotion,” Tatum said, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “If you were to ask me right now if I would be playing in 2028 — it’s four years away and I (would) have to take some time to think about that. So I’m not going to make a decision based on what this experience was like or how I felt personally.”

Tatum, who joined Team USA fresh off an NBA championship with the Celtics, has not played in two of the United States’ six Olympic Games. Kerr benched him for Thursday’s semifinal against Serbia, despite Team USA struggling to defend the perimeter, where Tatum excels.

He played 11 minutes in Saturday’s final against France, scoring two points and grabbing three rebounds.

Tatum spoke candidly about his second Olympic experience. According to Windhorst, he said several times that he was happy to win another gold medal and “didn’t want his situation to affect the success of the team.”

He also said that this year’s Olympic Games were a learning experience.

“A lot of people messaged me and said ‘make this your energy,’ which I appreciate. There’s a lot of people that care about me,” Tatum said. “I think the hard part is, yeah, you can use things to give you energy, but I’m still human.

“…Part of the moment is I’ve made sacrifices and put a lot into this game and worked really, really hard. So at that moment, it’s tough. You don’t necessarily have to worry about feeding me for November or (whenever) the season is, but like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It’s definitely challenging and humbling at the same time.”

At 26, it seems unlikely that Paris will be the last time he plays for Team USA. He didn’t get the chance to shine this year as he would have liked, but if his positive trajectory continues, he could be the one to lead the United States to gold in 2028.