Steve Kerr downplays idea that he and Jayson Tatum have a rift after Olympics, awkward postgame interaction
"I will tell you that Jayson was an absolute dream to coach."
The idea that there’s a feud between Jayson Tatum and Steve Kerr was re-litigated on Monday after the Celtics star seemed to snub the Warriors coach of a greeting following Boston’s blowout victory over Golden State.
However, Kerr denied that there’s any rift between the two. Kerr, who coached Tatum on Team USA at the 2024 Olympics and surprisingly benched him for two of its games, shared that he interacted with Tatum following both Celtics-Warriors games this season. He complimented Tatum’s professionalism during an interview with 95.7 The Fan in San Francisco.
“We texted after the game in Boston a couple of months ago and we talked [Monday] night after the game,” Kerr told the “Willard & Dibs” show. “I will tell you that Jayson was an absolute dream to coach. During all that stuff, that so-called controversy, you might notice there wasn’t a single quote from Jayson. It was everybody else talking about it. Jayson is an amazing guy and an incredible player and he couldn’t have handled it any better when he was there.”
While people close to Tatum expressed displeasure after he didn’t play in the USA’s narrow victory over Serbia in the semifinals, Kerr is correct that he never publicly complained about playing time. Tatum shared with reporters after the gold medal win, though, that it was a “tough personal experience” for him, but he wouldn’t let affect his decision to play for Team USA at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Tatum also downplayed the idea that he held any animosity toward Kerr following the Celtics’ loss to the Warriors in November. He told reporters at the time that the benching and relative lack of playing time “wasn’t on my mind” during that game.
Tatum isn’t the only Celtics star who might have had a reason to feel slighted by Kerr and USA Basketball this past summer. Jaylen Brown publicly complained about being left off the Olympic roster, with Derrick White being a last-minute addition just over a week after Brown won Finals MVP.
Brown also added some fuel to the idea that there’s beef between him and Kerr following Monday’s game. As Tatum and Curry shared an embrace, Brown and Kerr appeared to linger next to the two of them but never acknowledged each other.
Kerr also dispelled any idea that there’s a feud between him and Brown, noting that he previously coached him on Team USA for the 2019 FIBA World Cup (Kerr was an assistant coach at the time).
“Great, fantastic conversations and interactions with former Warriors, USA guys – Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown – I coached him back in ’19 in the World Cup,” Kerr said. “It’s always really fun to see guys that you have a relationship with and I got a chance to visit with all of those guys, including Jayson after the game [Monday] night. It was great to see them. I’m always pulling for guys that I have coached.”
Kerr added that being able to see players he coached internationally again when he faces him in the NBA is a “fun part” of the job. As it’s been reported that Kerr plans to stop coaching Team USA, he wants to turn the page from any perceived controversies during his time as coach of the team.
“That whole thing was overblown, but also just a modern media type thing,” Kerr later added on the Tatum situation. “He handled it beautifully. We won a gold medal. Everybody’s happy. I don’t even think about it anymore, to be quite honest with you.”
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