Charles Barkley agrees with critics who think Steve Kerr did Jayson Tatum dirty by benching him for much of the Paris Olympics basketball tournament.
"There's no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum," Barkley said on The Dan Le Batard Show. "Jayson Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia, probably would have been the best player on France. For him not to get any minutes in two games… Come on man, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair. If you’re going to the Olympics you want to play, you want to play."
Kerr famously didn't play Tatum during Team USA's tight game against Serbia, which the Americans ultimately won in a squeaker.
"I was disappointed Jayson didn’t get to play, I was disappointed [Tyrese] Haliburton didn’t [get to play], especially early," Barkley continued. "If you want to shorten your rotation in the last couple games that’s fine, but them guys dedicated their summer to the United States. To go over there and not get to play, I didn't like that at all."
Barkley joined Tatum's mother Brandy Cole, who also criticized Kerr for benching her son.
Cole retweeted a pair of tweets from ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale and Barstool Sports writer Dan Greenberg questioning the lack of Tatum's play time during the Olympics. In response to rumors that he was benched due to an injury, Cole said he wasn't and wanted some answers as to why her son wasn't playing. "If you find out what's going on please let me know," she wrote. "Unacceptable and makes NO SENSE."