Should Steve Kerr Give Joel Embiid's Team USA Minutes to Jayson Tatum?

Team USA crushed Serbia in its group-opening game at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, but the resulting conversations had little to do with the final score.

After winning 110-84, attention almost immediately shifted to Jayson Tatum's zero minutes played, and to a lesser extent, Joel Embiid's minus-8 in 11 minutes.

In fact, eyebrows started raising before the game even ended. The final buzzer just confirmed it.

Embiid was on the wrong side of the plus-minus ledger for the third time in six games with Team USA (when you count the friendlies leading up to Paris). Tatum was a DNP-CD.

A player who just made First Team All-NBA and won a championship never stepped foot on the floor against Serbia. The player who led everyone in 2023-24 raw plus-minus (regular and postseason combined) was relegated to cheering from the bench. Team USA's second-leading scorer in the Tokyo Olympics, when Covid made recruiting players more difficult, had to sit through the embarrassment of being this summer's 11th or 12th man.

"Jayson handled it really well," head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "I talked to him today before the game that it may play out this way with Kevin coming back. Every game's going to be different, based on matchups. He's a total pro. He's First Team All-NBA three years in a row. I felt like an idiot not playing him, but in a 40-minute game, you can't play more than 10. You really can't."

So, that raises some questions.

First, was Kerr right to hold Tatum out of the Americans' first game? If he wasn't, whose minutes should Tatum take? And should Embiid even be starting?

The debate on all of the above is raging online, so it's time to dive into it in a little more detail than social media posts can provide.

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Was the Rotation Against Serbia Justified?

DNP-gate has generated some legitimate digital outrage, particularly from Boston Celtics fans who are understandably protective of their title-winning team's best player.

And Kerr simply gave them more fodder for the debate with his postgame comments.

Beyond the All-NBA appearances, various catch-all metrics from around the internet pegged Tatum as 2023-24's eighth-best player, fourth-best American and third-best current member of Team USA.

The quick and most logical retort to the outrage, mostly from Golden State Warriors fans who've spent years with Kerr, is that he's long prioritized quick and effective decision-making over other traits.

The Warriors offense has long depended on everyone on the floor being able to shoot, pass or attack almost immediately upon catching the ball. Making the right choice out of those three options certainly helps, too.

For years, Kerr has famously eschewed the online buzz calling for Stephen Curry to be used as more of a heliocentric, pick-and-roll-heavy playmaker like Luka Dončić or prime James Harden.

Regardless of the unavailability of various star teammates, Kerr maintained his trust in and reliance on a system that demands ball movement, player movement and again, decisiveness.

Tatum has never played like prime Harden either, but he does process things a bit differently than the likes of Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. More of his catches are followed by jab steps, surveying looks around the floor and a little time in the triple-threat position.

During the regular NBA season, among players who appeared in at least half their team's games, Tatum was tied for 31st in time of possession per game. He was third in that group among non-guards.

Team USA isn't the Celtics of old, though.

In both the 2023-24 campaign—when he made room for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis—and the summer of 2021 in Japan—when he gave way to KD—Tatum showed a willingness and ability to scale down his game.

And what's been lost or ignored in much of this conversation is what Tatum can do on the other end. He's a longer and more versatile defender than both Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker. He's long been a plus rebounder for his position.

For all but one year of his career, Dunks and Threes' estimated plus-minus (one of the most trusted catch-all metrics in NBA front offices) has identified Tatum as a well-above-average defender.

If nothing else, adding him to Team USA's rotation would make the entire defense more effective and pliable.

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Can Tatum Take Embiid's Minutes?

But Kerr is right about at least one thing. In a competitive tournament like this, when non-American teams are loaded with NBA (and NBA-caliber) talent, it's hard to play more than 10. In tight games, he might even have to trim the second-half rotation to eight or nine players.

So, if you're going to argue that Tatum should play (as this article is), you also have to be prepared to bump someone from your hypothetical rotation.

Derrick White, the only player on the roster who hasn't made an All-Star team, is the common call online. Thing is, he checks that decisiveness box pretty thoroughly. He might also be the most versatile defender on the team (with the possible exception of Holiday).

As already alluded to, there's a case to play Tatum over either one of Booker or Edwards. Both are above Tatum on the aforementioned time-of-possession leaderboard, but they haven't really been ball-stoppers on this roster (at least not to a detrimental degree). Plus, Booker's shooting is a good release valve in lineups with ball-dominant stars. Edwards' aggressiveness makes the second unit more dangerous.

Instead of dropping any of those three, there's something of a "multiple birds with one stone" approach that makes the most sense.

Setting aside the possibility that Embiid was maybe promised a starting spot if he joined Team USA, he's the one player in the rotation whose game is even more methodical and deliberate than Tatum's. The amount of time he spends with the ball (and the amount of time it sometimes takes him to get up and down the floor), often slams the brakes on a team that should be able to run opponents ragged.

The Americans have a massive speed and athleticism advantage against just about everyone. Embiid often mitigates that.

That's not necessarily a comment on him as an individual player. In a setting or team that's specifically tailored for him, like the Philadelphia 76ers, he's one of the most dominant scorers in the world.

On this version of Team USA, which values quick decisions and already has tons of ball-handling and scoring from the perimeter, Anthony Davis probably makes more sense. He's more accustomed to being limited to rim-runs and offensive rebounds on offense. He's a little more capable of switching onto the perimeter on defense and keeping up with his smaller teammates in transition.

Through six games with this group, it's become abundantly clear that AD should be starting. And making that move doesn't necessarily mean Embiid should be dropped from the rotation entirely. Nor should it keep Tatum off the floor.

With Davis at the 5, the starting lineup can play a faster, more versatile and FIBA-friendly game. Embiid could then dominate opponents' backup bigs.

The unfortunate reality is that the odd man out may have to Bam Adebayo. He's played some nominal 4 alongside Davis, but he's almost redundant with both him and Embiid. Tatum isn't.

Yes, it's difficult to sort through a rotation with this much talent. Yes, it's probably impossible to stretch that rotation beyond 10 players. But the final answer shouldn't be the absence of Tatum.