Does Steve Kerr regret benching Jayson Tatum at the Olympics?

Celtics

“We can’t control history. So that’s what this job is.”

Steve Kerr didn’t give Jayson Tatum many minutes at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Steve Kerr was asked an interesting question before Wednesday’s match between the Celtics and Warriors at TD Garden.

“What’s the loudest you’ve ever booed?”

The Warriors head coach and former NBA guard responded with a laugh.

“I don’t think anyone cared enough about me to boo me,” Kerr said. “We’ll see how it goes tonight.”

Kerr is expected to be persona non grata on the floor Wednesday, thanks in large part to managing Jayson Tatum’s minutes as Team USA’s head coach during the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Tatum, who had already won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2020 Summer Games after securing an NBA title with Boston in June, became an afterthought in Kerr’s rotations in France.

Under Kerr’s watch, Tatum played the second fewest minutes of any player on Team USA’s roster during the Olympics – not logging a single minute of play in two games against Serbia.

Although Team USA won another gold medal at the 2024 international tournament, Tatum was vocal about how unhappy he was with his limited role with Team USA this summer.

Now that Tatum is motivated and the Celtics face Kerr and the Warriors on Wednesday, does Golden State’s head coach now regret how he handled Tatum’s minutes?

It doesn’t look like it.

“We can’t control history. So that’s what this job is,” Kerr said before Wednesday’s game, adding: “So it can be tough. And I thought from the beginning in Vegas, the whole thing was, ‘Hey, we’re in this together.’ “We have 12 Hall of Famers and we really want to win, and we won the gold medal.

“So I don’t think much about it other than I didn’t enjoy not playing against Jayson against Serbia. Joel (Embiid) is not playing against South Sudan. These aren’t fun decisions, but our guys were all great and committed to each other. They committed to winning the gold medal. They brought home the gold for their country. They all conducted themselves with incredible dignity and class, and that’s the real story.”

While Kerr isn’t concerned with his summer rotations, Tatum appears to have taken his frustrations out on the rest of the NBA. The 26-year-old forward is off to the best start of his career, averaging 30.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the field.

Kerr will likely be greeted with plenty of ridicule on Wednesday. But the nine-time NBA champion (five times as a player, four times as a coach) responded sarcastically when he arrived at his expected reception.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of Celtics fans cheering me on too because I’m part of Team USA and won a gold medal for the country,” Kerr said. “I am a patriotic American. I love my country. Three Celtics on the team that won a world championship and a gold medal two months later.

“Pretty incredible stuff. So, yeah, people can write about whatever they want to write about, game time or, yeah.”