Team USA will make a lineup change for its gold medal game on Saturday vs. France, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who says that Suns forward Kevin Durant will be inserted into the starting five, with Celtics guard Jrue Holiday expected to make the move to the bench.
Durant missed all of Team USA’s exhibition contests leading up to the Olympics due to a calf strain, or else he might have been a starter from day one. Despite not getting any game reps in before the Olympics, Durant has been one of the team’s most-used players and top scorers in France, averaging 13.6 points in 20.5 minutes per contest and posting a white-hot shooting line of .579/.611/.929.
The French team’s frontcourt is its biggest strength, with Victor Wembanyama, Guerschon Yabusele, and Mathias Lessort playing key roles in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Rudy Gobert is also in that mix, though he’s banged up and has played a limited role in the knockout round. Adding Durant to the starting five will put the U.S. squad in a better position to match up with France’s size.
Here’s more on Team USA ahead of Saturday’s gold medal game:
- USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill spoke to Joe Vardon of The Athletic and Rachel Nichols on the All The Smoke podcast (YouTube link) about the process of building the U.S. roster and his areas of concern entering the tournament. In his conversation with Nichols, Hill discussed the omission of Jaylen Brown from the 12-man squad, indicating that the Celtics wing will receive consideration for the 2028 team in Los Angeles despite the public criticism Brown offered last month. “He’ll be a candidate if he wants in ’28,” Hill said (Twitter video link). “One thing I’ve learned is you can’t take anything personal. My objective is to win.”
- After Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was a DNP-CD for the second time in the Olympics in Thursday’s comeback win over Serbia, head coach Steve Kerr explained that it’s hard to find playing time for 11 players in a 40-minute game, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “It’s not about anything Jayson is doing or not doing,” Kerr said. “It’s just about combinations and the way that group has played together, the way Kevin has filled in since he came back from his injury. It’s just a math problem more than anything.” While it’s a small sample size, Tatum’s .389 FG% in Olympic play is the worst among U.S. players.
- Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic take a look at the Joel Embiid subplot that will play a part in Saturday’s final, given that the former NBA MVP chose to play for United States over France in these Olympics. Embiid fully anticipates a cool reception from the home crowd in Paris. “They’re going to boo me,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to go back at them and tell ’em to suck it. And so it’s going to be fun.”
And queue the homer anti-Kerr comments in 3…2…1…
Did i meet the deadline?
U guys do know what happens when you alienate Boston/New England players…
You have met Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots fans before?
Or are you new to the US?
Th e goal is to win a gold medal so who cares some player doesn’t play. If it bothers you its because you don’t care if the US wins.
I agree with Bill Simmons. After the 2nd Serbia game, I doubt Tatum plays for USA in the future. Being benched while guys like Devin Booker who cannot guard my 85 year old grandmother, or even Derrick White, is just not believable. For some reason, Kerr does not like Tatum or his game. That is fine, you are the coach, but boy did you just give Tatum everything he needs to destroy the NBA this season. I bet the Knicks, Pacers, Bucks and Sixers are real happy that Team USA pissed off Tatum and Brown and worst of all Mama Tatum too, even though her name is Cole.
Thank you Steve Kerr, I am a Celtic fan and you just guaranteed a great shot at winning it again. OH BTW Steve, cannot wait for your appearance in Boston this year. New England fans back their guys and they also never forget. And if you lose to France….OMFG will Boston be on you from the moment you enter Massachusetts. Ask Kyrie how that works.
I wasnt going to bet the Celtics to win this year, bc its hard to repeat, but now, hell yeah. Easy money. Joe Mazzula will use this entire USA Olympic thing as motivation for 2025.
Steve Kerr…Duece is not happy, he wants a word with you.
Its called team chemistry and he didn’t gel with the starting or back up team. Some players don’t fit well together. Derek White has played better than Tatum. Tatum looks tired since he played a extra half season this year in the playoffs. If France goes with a small line up expect Tatum to play. Its all about match ups.
“and he didn’t gel with the starting or back up team.”
Do you mean 2/5ths of the starting lineup in Booker & KD who Tatum has already won a Gold medal with? Or did Tatum not gel with Jrue Holiday & Derrick White, the two guys he just won the NBA Finals with?
Honestly that is a horrible take.
@Arc I see you are new to the CF posts. Where he throws horrible A$$ takes at the wall and hope it sticks. He has made 3 posts in the last 2 days about Devin Bookers horrible defense, meanwhile the 2nd leading story behind USA’s comeback in both ESPN and CBS sports was Devin Booker “un sung hero in USA comeback win” because of his excellent defense in the 4th Q. He’s a Boston guy that has his Celtic panties is a twist because his guy had played himself off the court during this Olympic run.
Booker is out there for his 3 pt shooting. You can’t just have 1 3pt shooters and a bunch of slash to the basket players. I don’t see any problem with Booker. These teams are doing a lot of screens to get their 3 pt shooters open that is why you got to switch and its not Bookers fault.
@arc, Stop making stuff up already. Not only did Jayson Tatum shoot for a higher 3pt percentage during the 2023-24 season, he’s also been the better 3pt shooter career-wise.
Tatum: Career 37.5% / 2023-24 37.6%
Booker: Career 35.7% / 2023024 36.4%
Devin Booker is NOT a better shooter than Jayson Tatum, that is not true. At best they’re both very streaky 3pt shooters and the guaranteed method to get a shooter out of a slump is more in game attempts, not CD-DNPs.
What the actual issue here is Steve Kerr doesn’t have the ability to find lineups to fit the ENTIRE 12 man roster. These aren’t NBA games where the back 3rd of the roster may not see time. These are the Olympics on the world stage where unless you’re nursing some type of injury, the US coach always finds a way to make this happen without letting it turn into a distraction.
Warriors fans crack me up so much, they bash Kerr daily when its about their team’s lineups but now that Steve can’t find a way to get two extra players 3-4 minutes in a game, Its Because The Players Don’t Fit lol.
Just admit that the guy isn’t that great of a coach already and be done with it. He’s won Titles as HC but that was with a handful of HOFers (w/arguably 3 of the top 5 Shooters in history.) “His” offensive system isn’t actually his, its San Antonio’s, and Kerr has been enabling Draymond Green for years and we’ve all seen the repercussions of that.
Better head coaches would have found a way a way to “fit” players in in a game that the US was trailing by 17 and no one was defending or moving the ball.
In case you missed it, that is exactly the role that Tatum does for Boston. While everyone has spent years crapping on his 3pt% the Celtics have developed him into the perfect half court playmaker and surrounded him with a rotation of 38+% 3pt shooters. It Was Just Good Enough To win The Finals.
“Its team chemistry and he doesn’t gel…” that is nothing more than delusion from the Dubs fanbase. There’s a LOT of that going on around here.
@erik only 1 warrior fan bashes Kerr all the time. Most like Kerr and his 4 championships. Remember when Warriors were given a 14% chance of beating Celtics in the finals but won in 6 games. You are just a fan boy of Tatum. Noticed how tired Tatum legs with his shots are off. That happened when you play a extra 19 games and a extra 2 months. Watch Tatum have a slow start to the season before he gets going. So isn’t the goal winning a gold medal not making sure everyone plays?
“only 1 warrior fan bashes Kerr all the time.”
Not true at all, he gets ripped on a daily from numerous accounts.
“Most like Kerr and his 4 championships. Remember when Warriors were given a 14% chance of beating Celtics in the finals but won in 6 games.”
The only people still thinking about that series are GS fans. The basketball team that I root for has won SEVEN championships in my lifetime Including The Last One. I have nothing but pity for you guys who actually think anyone outside of the Dubs fanbase cares two craps about how GS won that Finals. Bravo! (insert golf clap gif here)
I totally agree that Tatum’s legs are tired but that hasn’t affected any other parts of his games. In this Olympic run including the warmup games he’s done everything else that he does on a normal daily basis during the season. Whether its getting to the rim/line or rebounding or passing or just locking someone up on D, he’s done it. He literally checked into his last game and forced a turnover out at halfcourt, he’s good to go right from the jump.
The REAL issue in all of this is Steve Kerr let it get to the point where places like this one are bashing, in no particular order, Tatum, Booker & Kerr. That is Steve’s real crime here, everyone’s character, decision making and play is getting ripped apart when the coach could have just made ALL of this a none issue by giving players 6-12 on the roster (technically really anyone past Steph. Lebron & KD) even playing time.
If someone is killing it on one or both ends then give him a minute or two more and someone just a little less.
These are the best players that the US have, There Are No Scrubs On This Team. Anyone trying to say otherwise is 100% full of crap and only has an agenda.
@erik you proved not to be a basketball fan but ONLY a Celtics fan. You do know its not ONLY Kerr doing the game plans he has a bench of elite NBA coaches giving their input. Nobody is calling Tatum a scrub it is called match ups. the goal is to win but you think the goal is to play only Celtic players.
No, you’ve just missed on every single one of those claims.
I love the NBA and plenty of other teams besides Boston (SA/OKC/MEM/DEN,) you accusing me of anything less is just your projections. That would be like if I came out and said “Most GS fans didn’t start following the team until 2013 when Steph made his first playoffs” which is a pretty disingenuous remark.
I’d prefer that the three C’s players not be there at all but they are. Kerr has final say on everything, he could have prevented all of the drama with very easy fixes, play everyone after the big three with fairly even playing time. You’d still have additional minutes for certain other role players depending on matchup or circumstance, this isn’t rocket science lol.
Yawn, its Lebron and Durant’s last Olympics, and they are playing well
Bam and AD have been great, Joel can be a mismatch in matches, the games are 40 mins only
This isn’t a USA basketball problem, its not a Tatum problem, it isn’t even a media problem, faux outrage that interests nobody
This was the most cringe I’ve read in years
Tatum is not gonna scare anyone. He’s a very good player but he’s not great and he doesn’t even belong in the Olympic squad. Take your Beantown boosting to rhe toilet and leave ot there. Nobody buys what youre trying to sell so stop making an ass of yourself.
So Tatum spouting all that team first, and it takes all 12 etc.etc. only applies when HE’S the star? Got it
Yeah that is exactly what everyone is saying. Or could it be that other people believe this USA team is not playing up to expectations. You do know that Tatum and KD anchored the 2020 Olympics and won gold? Or that was another Tatum?
You misunderstand. I could care less about an exhibition where 90% of the best players in the world are not playing, like the majority of the NBA. I care about NBA championships and Steve Kerr is doing the best job of helping the Celtics win.
Hell Brad Stevens is even doing PR for Kerr and admitting that Jaylen is working right now on his game to prove people wrong.
I love that people believe that team USA is playing well. They almost lost to Serbia with the Joker and Bogdanovic. They almost lost to South Sudan with 1 legit NBA guy. They should have put in their worst team of players and won by 25 against either team. They start 4 hall of famers and Devin “I really cannot guard a legit NBA guard” Booker. Seriously. Think about that. A team that starts three guys who cannot play in the NBA almost beat four hall of famers and Devin “I play matador defense” Booker.
No worries. Celtics fans are real happy… Tatum wont get injured, and he will be pissed off.
Keep going Steve, I really want banner #19.
Nah, KD anchored that gold by himself lmao
@MB81 When exactly did Jayson Tatum speak out negatively about his Olympics situation? Stop making stuff up to feed your agenda.
This team is unwatchable, sorry, all about James and his friends. The showboating after every dunk, not watching. Kerr? Why?
Wasn’t Serbia, France and every other nation doing the same showboating during wins. Even in table tennis they show boat.
Warriors still won’t make the playoffs. Curry career is over
Been hearing that for the last 5 years and he still won a championship.
The amount of negative discourse for this team has been embarrassing. They’re about to potentially win a gold medal and every talking point is about how something is wrong.
Kerr isn’t good enough. Tatum doesn’t play enough. Jaylen Brown should have been picked. LeBron is getting too much attention.
It’s USA basketball. Support the team or stfu.
What about Haliburton. The best pg in the league and can’t get any pt. I don’t want to hear about defense because no one has looked good on that end.
I guess it’s good experience and he’ll be a mainstay on Olympic teams in the future but he still deserves to play a little bit along with Tatum as well.
Halliburton will drop a 50 spot in the first Pacers-Warriors game.
What about him? Only so many players can play. It’s an honor to be selected and he was. They have potential to win a gold medal. That’s the story.
Haliburton problem is inconsistent. Look how in the playoffs he looked like a all star and other times disappears.
Boy is tatum and brown going to have one hell of a chip on there shoulder and be out for blood thank you steve kerr grant hill and nike you keep adding fuel to the fire
As a Celtics fan from the exhibition games it was obvious Tatum was playing the worse on the team. Instead of filling a roll he showed poor effort and execution. I see no problem with him not playing especially with the way Lebron and Durant have shown up. Next Olympics it will be Tatums team. I have all the confidence in the world that just as the two J’s have done since being drafted they will use it as motivation and grow their game. Tough game today I expect another huge game from Curry to bring home the Gold!!