Popovich: Silver’s involvement in rest issue could undermine relationships

The story out of Team USA’s victory over Serbia wasn’t about the Americans’ dominance over a fellow medal favorite. Instead, it was about Jayson Tatum getting a DNP by head coach Steve Kerr. That’s something that Kerr said won’t happen again in the next game.

Kerr confirmed on Monday in France that Tatum would play on Wednesday against South Sudan.

“Jayson will play [Wednesday],” Kerr said. “I’m not going to answer your next question, which is if he plays, who doesn’t. But we’re going to need him, and part of this job for me is to keep everybody engaged and ready, because my experience with this is crazy stuff happens.”

Kerr had previously said that he “felt like an idiot” for not playing Tatum against Serbia. The coaching staff prioritized playing bigger lineups against Nikola Jokic. That means making some hard decisions on who plays and who doesn’t.

“The hardest part of this job is you’re sitting at least a couple of guys who are world-class, some of the very best players on Earth,” Kerr said. “On one hand, it makes no sense at all. On the other, I’m asking these guys to just commit to winning one game and then move on to the next one. I have to do the same thing. And so, I felt like last night those were the combinations that made the most sense.”