Draymond Green Slams Team USA Head Coach Steve Kerr For Decision To Bench Jayson Tatum

For the second time in Paris, Golden State Warriors and U.S.A. men’s basketball head coach Steve Kerr decided to bench NBA champion and three-time first-team All-NBA small forward Jayston Tatum against Serbia on Thursday. The decision almost proved fatal as the Americans faced a double-digit deficit in the second half multiple times, but ten straight possessions that ended in points propelled the U.S. to the gold medal game.

Last week, Warriors veteran Draymond Green took to his podcast to voice his displeasure against his head coach for his handling of playing time with Tatum.

“We all know it was wrong. He should’ve played. He didn’t,” he said. “What I don’t like about it is, now, to me, it feels like a covering my tracks, proving a point type of thing to where, oh, now Joel [Embiid] is out of the lineup. And then today, Jrue [Holiday] didn’t play… From the outside looking in, it comes off as, ‘We made a mistake as a coaching staff.’”

Later, Green alluded to Kerr’s strange rotations in France. After not seeing the floor during the United States’ opening game, Tatum started the second matchup with South Sudan, played 17 minutes and recorded a double-double against Puerto Rico.

“I’m sure it’s part ‘We can rest the ankle a little bit,’ but it’s part we gotta not play somebody. And quite frankly, I don’t like it. Come out with a rotation and stick with it. These teams aren’t good enough to where we’re trying to match their lineup. They gotta match our lineup… We got the best players in the world. We’ll be fine.”

Green earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic teams in Rio and Tokyo, winning two consecutive gold medals.

The United States beat France on Saturday, winning their fifth straight gold medal against the Olympic hosts.