Three weeks removed from winning a gold medal, US Olympian Jrue Holiday shared his thoughts on Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum’s two-game benching at the Summer Games, how Tatum handled it behind the scenes, and what it was like sharing gold with two of his NBA running mates.
Dual US Olympian Jrue Holiday Speaks Up For NBA Teammate
Jayson Tatum’s Character In High Form
Holiday, two-time US Olympic gold medalist and NBA teammate of Tatum, recently cleared the air on all the noise that circulated Team USA’s basketball squad. While the Americans were en route to capturing gold in the City of Lights, not all was peaceful. Although the US was triumphant in winning their fifth straight Olympic gold medal, Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum was the center of attention—negative attention, unfortunately.
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr DNP’d the reigning NBA champion in both matchups against Serbia, including the semifinals. Whatever reasons Kerr gave for his decision-making process, it didn’t sit well with the majority. The reality was evidently disappointing for Tatum, and he even publicly admitted to the challenging position he was placed in. Yet, he remained graceful and humble throughout. Credit to him for being a team-first guy.
US Olympian Holiday Chimes In
On Wednesday, Holiday had a moment to clear the air on the situation, standing in for his Olympic and Celtics colleague at a Raising Cane’s event for the brand-new location unveiling of the downtown Boston restaurant.
“I think everybody knows JT — he’s the ultimate professional, he already knows what it is and what the ultimate goal is. I don’t think he needed any encouragement. I think it’s more so like staying ready whenever it’s his time to be called.”
Holiday witnessed firsthand how the whole thing went down. The now two-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold winner played significantly more minutes than his Boston running mate Tatum, as did other Celtics guard Derrick White. Holiday spoke glowingly of his time sharing the Olympic experience with his two NBA teammates.
“Playing with them is pretty comfortable,” Holiday said of teaming up with Tatum and White in Paris. “We did it for a while, and we won together, but to go over there and kind of represent our country together was really cool.”
Tatum Is All Good To Go
The US Olympian and future Hall of Famer knows Tatum pretty well and seems not to worry about his mental state going into the 2024-25 season. Will Tatum use his Olympic experience as fire and motivation to have another incredible season, striving for a repeat championship? Of course, he will, in the same way that Jaylen Brown will for being left off Team USA.
Holiday also stated that Tatum handled his benching against Serbia professionally. That’s really all you can ask from one of the best NBA players that everyone has the pleasure of watching today. The main team goal was to take gold, and gold they did take.
Now, Tatum, Holiday, and the rest of the squad will begin preparation for defending their title. With the team built as it is, the Celtics are in a prime position to duplicate last season. However, winning 60+ games for a consecutive year may be a tall task.
