Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

Draymond Green reacts to Jayson Tatum's lack of playing time for Team USA at Paris Olympics

5 Aug 2024 · 1 min

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In this YouTube reaction clip, Draymond Green expresses disbelief and frustration over Team USA's decision to sit Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Halliburton for the opening Olympic basketball game. Green emphasizes Tatum's recent accolades—NBA championship, NBA 2K and Sports Illustrated covers, and the largest contract in league history—arguing that a player of his stature should not be benched. He speculates that the coaching staff likely also chose not to play Tyrese Halliburton and Derek White. Green references the 2021 USA team, noting that the offense was built around Tatum and Kevin Durant, framing the current decision as a missed torch‑passing moment. Overall, Green's tone is conversational yet sharply critical, conveying strong disappointment in the lineup choices.

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With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Halliburton not playing a single minute in game 1, which was crazy. You don't not play Jayson Tatum. That man just won an NBA championship, cover of NBA 2K, cover of Sports Illustrated saying cheers, just signed the biggest contract in NBA history. Oh, and by the way, your reward is "Sit down and don't play in the first Olympic game." So when you're going into that game, my thought process was, if you're not gonna play two guys, the two guys you're probably not gonna play is Tyrese and Derek White. And in 2021, our team, our offense was built around Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant. And it was almost kind of set up as though like KD was passing the torch to JT. Mm-hmm. And then JT come out and not play? I couldn't believe that.