Jayson Tatum admitted that he was disappointed about his role with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, Tatum said that won’t impact any decisions about playing for the United States in the future.
“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” Tatum said. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028 — it is four years from now and I [would have] to take time and think about that. So, I’m not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”
While Tatum repeatedly refused to make his lack of playing time a situation, he did say the situation was humbling and one he’d learn from for the future.
“A lot of people text me and reached out and said ‘Make sure this fuels you,’ which I appreciate. There’s a lot of people that care about me,” Tatum said. “I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I’m still human.
“…Part of being in the moment, I’ve sacrificed and put a lot into this game and work really, really hard. So, in the moment it is tough. You’re not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or [whenever] the season is, but like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It’s definitely challenging and humbling at the same time.”