Can USA Basketball mend fences with Jayson Tatum, rely on younger talent for L.A. 2028?

PARIS — Jayson Tatum stood in the arena loading dock Saturday night, an Olympic gold medal draped around his neck and untold bottles of champagne waiting for him, answering questions about his personal disappointment and his mom coming to his defense on social media.

This should have been, and in many ways still was, the Summer of Tatum. His first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics. A $314-million contract extension. The birth of his second child. And yes, a second gold medal in as many Olympics, this time as a member of arguably the greatest team ever assembled.

But Tatum’s role on the fringe of Team USA’s rotation was not one he’s used to, or was prepared for, and the two games he didn’t play in during the Americans’ run to gold made for huge news and hot debate back home.

“I keep trying to say, I’m trying not to make it about me, all the storylines over the last few days — we won,” Tatum said after the Americans’ 98-87 triumph over France, in which Tatum did play and contributed two points and three rebounds in 11 minutes. “We won a gold medal, and that was most important.”

Because they won, the debate is moot. History will judge U.S. coach Steve Kerr favorably for managing this team as he did, for riding Devin Booker as a starter over Tatum, for using Derrick White as a point-of-attack defender off the bench until the Americans played France, when Tatum’s length was more valuable to the team than what White brought as a defense-first guard.

Had the Americans lost at any point this summer, and especially in the medal rounds, with Tatum on the bench, then yes, Kerr and Team USA’s executives would have been crushed with criticism for not finding a bigger role for someone who has been a first-team All-NBA selection three years in a row.

But they didn’t lose, so the arguments and the takes no longer matter. What is important, vitally important, for U.S. men’s basketball now, though, is how Tatum feels. Because the program still needs him and will need him.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to be making any decision off emotions,” Tatum said. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028, it is four years from now, and I would have to take time and think about that. So I’m not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”

After a lot of time spent on the bench in Paris, Jayson Tatum isn’t sure about L.A. in 2028. “I’m not going to be making any decision off emotions,” he said. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

The U.S. has now won five consecutive men’s basketball gold medals. They all count, but this one felt bigger in terms of importance because of the team the Americans sent to Paris. The names and the resumes belonging to LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid, to say nothing of the other eight stars, including Tatum, drew constant comparisons to the Dream Team of 1992. If this team couldn’t win, what would that say about the state of USA Basketball moving forward?

Thanks to the heroics of the Americans’ three elder statesmen, no one had to answer that question. But the team the U.S. fields four summers from now, when the Games are on American soil in Los Angeles, will be influenced greatly by the experience of this summer.

Whether it was the choice made by USA executives to go all in on All-Stars, instead of sprinkling in more role players, or how the players who could return to the team in 2028 feel about the journey they just completed, the next chapter of American basketball on the international stage will be written based in large part on the chapter that finished so gloriously late Saturday night in the City of Light.

“You can’t keep everyone happy,” USA managing director Grant Hill — who won a gold medal as a player in 1996 — said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “But I think you win a gold medal and everyone feels like they contributed. I think people will come out of this with a positive outlook on the entire experience.

“And, you know, we’ll have to revamp and figure things out in four years.”

As Hill said in that interview, which was first published Friday, the team was constructed with 11 All-Stars (12, if you count Kawhi Leonard before he was replaced by Derrick White) in part because of the versatility of the top teams in the world, but also in case James, Curry or Durant couldn’t play at the highest level.

James will be 43 in 2028. He said Saturday he did not expect to play for Team USA at the Los Angeles Games. Curry will be 40, and while he left himself room to change his mind — “never say never” is what he said — he suggested Paris would be his first and only Olympics. Durant will be 39 and has battled injuries the last few years, but he could easily decide he wants to be the men’s version of Diana Taurasi or Sue Bird and go for a fifth Olympic gold.

Even if Durant were healthy enough to sign up for another Olympic tour, he would not likely be the alpha, dominant player he’s been in his first four Games. Jrue Holiday will be 38 in 2028; he is probably finished after two gold medals. Anthony Davis will be 35 in 2028 and White, who will be 34, could be back, but it would depend in part on Davis’ interest and also what kind of team the Americans want to build.

The U.S. would love to get another Olympics out of Embiid, whom Hill successfully recruited away from France through occasional, low-pressure, open-ended discussions while the French demanded Embiid make good on the passport he asked for by playing for Les Bleus.

But when asked what he thought of his first Olympics, and if he might be interested in another go when he’ll be 34 in 2028, Embiid said, “It’s been a grind.

“That’s one thing I’ll say being gone for a few weeks away from family, away from home,” Embiid said. “But then again, I think being with Team USA, the group of guys that we have, the people around has made it easy to just enjoy it. And then Paris is a great city too, and then the next one is in LA. We’ll see. I don’t know, maybe it might not be with Team USA, maybe it might be with Cameroon, so we’ll see.”

Joel Embiid spent most of these two weeks being chided by French fans for choosing to play for the U.S. “It’s been a grind,” he said Saturday. (Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Embiid, born in Cameroon, could not play for his native country without releases from both FIBA and USA Basketball, since he played for the Americans this summer.

Bam Adebayo is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He will be 31 in 2028, but his coach for the Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra, could well be the next coach for Team USA (Kerr has said he will step down from his role after the Paris Games). Spoelstra served as an assistant to Kerr on this year’s team.

“A lot of people don’t get these opportunities, one, to be able to compete for your country, and two, to be able to win a gold medal,” Adebayo said. “So just having both of those in mind, you can’t pass on an opportunity like this.”

Booker, like Adebayo and Tatum, is a veteran of the last two Olympics and will be 31 for the Los Angeles Games. Booker took on a “lesser” role with Team USA, insofar as he elected to defend, rebound and do the dirty work until open shots came to him (he is, of course, a prolific scorer for the Suns). By thriving in what was asked of him, Booker started every game at the Paris Olympics.

“Devin Booker is an incredible basketball player,” Kerr said. “He was our unsung MVP — I just wanted to say that.”

If anyone has positive feelings about a return for the next Olympics, it would be Booker.

Roster building for most countries is a more singular, holistic approach of building a national team that plays in all the high-profile tournaments, including Olympics and FIBA World Cups — which now are held the year before the Olympics.

The problem for Hill and USA Basketball is most American NBA superstars have decided they do not want to play consecutive summers. So, for the time being, Hill will likely have to piece together rosters of younger rising stars for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar, and then decide who among those players he can elevate to the Olympic team with more established stars.

GO DEEPER

Even for Stephen Curry, that Olympic gold-medal game performance was ridiculous

Anthony Edwards was Team USA’s youngest player at 22 this summer. He came off Kerr’s bench and enjoyed some huge scoring games at the Olympics, including his 26 points against Puerto Rico. He has said he is interested in more Olympic experiences for the U.S., but no more World Cups.

“Hell nah,” Edwards said, when asked if he would consider a second appearance at a World Cup.

Tyrese Haliburton is only 24, and he and Edwards were the lone players asked to play at the Olympics from the 2023 World Cup team that finished fourth in the Philippines. But unlike Edwards, Haliburton played the fewest minutes of anyone this summer, with “DNP–coach’s decision” next to his name in four games.

When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A🏅 pic.twitter.com/xpshYZhMyA
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) August 10, 2024

Haliburton came into the Olympic run aware that his role would be reduced from what it was in 2023, when he set a U.S. record for assists at a World Cup, but Haliburton’s playing time nose-dived once White joined the team.

Paolo Banchero, another member of USA’s last World Cup team, was under serious consideration for the Paris Olympics and is a player Hill wants to feature in Olympiads to come.

Jaylen Brown, a superstar on the Boston Celtics whose only experience on the national team was in 2019 at the World Cup in China, felt snubbed by not making the 2024 Olympic team either as an original member or as a replacement for Leonard. He was openly critical of being left off the roster on social media. Hill told All the Smoke’s “Open Run” with Rachel Nichols last week that Brown “will be a candidate in ’28 if he wants in.”

“Oh yeah,” Hill said. “One thing I’ve learned. You can’t take anything personal in this role. And so, I haven’t personalized anything. My goal, my objective is to win. As soon as … that happens, we pivot and start looking ahead to the future.”

And of course, there are any number of current NBA stars, or borderline stars, or future stars who could be a great fit for Team USA in 2028. Perhaps even a player who is not yet in the NBA, like Cooper Flagg, who is headed for his first and likely only season at Duke before turning pro.

What is certain is the pressure to win at home will be great, and will come with enormous challenges from the world’s other top teams — including France.

The French have narrowly lost the last two gold-medal games to the United States. Victor Wembanyama is only 20, and the San Antonio Spurs superstar was dominant against the Americans Saturday with 26 points and as a presence on defense. Four Frenchmen were drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft last June.

Zaccharie Risacher went No. 1 to the Atlanta Hawks, and the Washington Wizards selected 7-footer Alex Sarr with the second pick. The Charlotte Hornets drafted forward Tidjane Salaün at No. 6, and Pacôme Dadiet was selected 25th by the New York Knicks. None of the four were on the French national team this summer, but it’s likely all could join Wembanyama and the Washington Wizards’ Bilal Coulibaly as young, upcoming NBA players (stars?) at the next World Cup and Olympics.

Les Bleus are just one example, although maybe the best one, of how hard it’s going to be for the Americans to keep winning gold medals every four years, regardless of who is on the roster.

“I’m learning, and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple years,” Wembanyama said Saturday, a silver medal dangling from his neck, not far from where Tatum was standing.

Asked if he meant he was “worried” for opponents in the NBA, or on the international stage, Wemby said: “Everywhere.”

Including Los Angeles, in four years.