Jayson Tatum signed the largest contract in NBA history at five years and $315 million with the Boston Celtics this offseason, but that jaw-dropping chunk of change doesn't make up for the shortcomings of not winning NBA Finals MVP and getting benched during the Olympics with Team USA.
USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr tossed Tatum just 17.7 minutes throughout this summer's Paris Olympics and didn't play the five-time All-Star for the entirety of two matchups. Tatum, who's moved on from the challenging gold medal experience of being treated as an unworthy roster member, had a preconceived idea of what Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla would feel about Boston's franchise star being handed some motivating fuel before the team embarks on its title defense in October: happiness.
"He's 100% right," Mazzulla told reporters during Wednesday's practice at Auerbach Center, per CLNS Media, "That comes off as love. That's just the way that I love him. It's the relationship that we have and I appreciate that he accepts my perspective and the way that we go about talking about him. But at the end of the day, he's 26 and I just said, 'Listen, you've accomplished so much in this league and just take a step back and appreciate that.' But then be grateful that you got, God willing, 10, 12, 14 years left in this league. Who knows what you're going to see? And I don't think we've seen the best of him yet in terms of how much he works and how he's willing to grow. So I thought it was great that he's got something to work for."
Tatum earned every right to play alongside LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in the Olympics, especially being the only player fresh off a championship run in which Tatum led the Celtics in points, rebounds and assists in the Finals. He's the sixth player in league history to accomplish that feat and the only one not to be named MVP of the series. Granted, it's likely that even a Bill Russell Finals MVP Trophy wouldn't give Tatum enough validation in the eyes of Kerr, Erik Spoelstra, Grant Hill and the rest of USA Basketball's coaching staff that didn't deem Jaylen Brown -- the reigning Finals MVP -- worthy of recruitment after Kawhi Leonard departed the Olympics with a knee injury. Team USA didn't lean back on cruise control against both Serbia and France in the semifinals and gold medal games, all while Tatum watched from the bench.
Although Tatum didn't know what to expect when joining the mega-loaded USA Basketball squad immediately after dusting Banner 18 confetti from his shoulders, the 26-year-old knew exactly how Mazzulla would perceive the reduced role.
"Joe was probably the happiest person in the world that I didn't win Finals MVP and that I didn't play in two of the games of the Olympics," Tatum at Tuesday's Celtics media day at Auerbach Center. "So, that was odd, but you know Joe. It makes sense. Did I need any extra motivation coming into the season? No. I'm not gonna give anybody, in particular, credit that they motivated me coming into the season. It was a unique circumstance. Something I haven't experienced before in my playing career, but I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason."
