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Jayson Tatum misses start of USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas

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Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy as he is introduced during the Boston Celtics Victory Event following their 2024 NBA Finals win at TD Garden on June 21, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images/AFP

LAS VEGAS — Jayson Tatum of the NBA champion Boston Celtics was not present Saturday for the start of the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball training camp, excused because of personal reasons.

Tatum is expected to join the team by Monday, when it will have the third of its four camp practices in Las Vegas, U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. The team plays its first exhibition on Wednesday against Canada, then leaves Thursday for nearly five weeks abroad — going first to Abu Dhabi for two games, then to London for two more games, then finally to Paris for the Olympics.

The 26-year-old Tatum — one of two Celtics on this U.S. team, along with Jrue Holiday — is seeking his second Olympic gold medal, after being part of the team that won at the Tokyo Games held three years ago.

READ: LeBron James says gold is all that matters at Paris Olympics

Tatum averaged 15.2 points for the Americans in those Olympics, second on the team behind Kevin Durant’s 20.7 points per game.

The Olympics will be the capper of a busy few months for Tatum. The five-time All-Star helped the Celtics win their first NBA title since 2008 last month — then started his offseason by agreeing to a league-record $314 million, five-year extension that could keep him in Boston through the 2029-30 season.

That contract was finalized Saturday, the first day that such a deal could be executed by NBA rule.

“Jayson is a special person and player, and it’s been a thrill for all of us to watch his entire journey in Boston,” Celtics President Brad Stevens said Saturday in a release distributed by the team.

READ: LeBron James says gold is all that matters at Paris Olympics

“He has embraced all that comes with being a great Celtic, and shows consistent and genuine care for every one of his teammates, coaches, and staff across the organization.

Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game this past season for the Celtics, and has averaged 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his first seven NBA seasons.

Tatum was in Las Vegas for most of the week prior to the start of the U.S. camp, hosting his own elite camp for select high school and college players. Fellow U.S. Olympian Bam Adebayo was also part of that camp, as were fellow NBA players Paolo Banchero and Chris Paul.



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Team USA arrives for camp in Las Vegas ahead of Paris Olympics

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FILE–Team USA head coach Steve Kerr, left, talks to his assistant coaches Erik Spoelstra and Tyronn Lue during the Fiba World Cup in Manila. Team USA is back together again, this time eyeing a fifth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics later this month.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

LAS VEGAS — There’s something that Kobe Bryant once said that has stuck with U.S. men’s Olympic basketball coach Steve Kerr and seems especially important now.

It was about how other nations have made big strides in basketball, how the gap between the rest of the world and the U.S. is closing and how that’s been a great thing for the NBA. And Bryant’s response, paraphrased, was basically, “so what?”

His point: If everyone else is getting better, then the U.S. better find ways to do the same.

READ: LeBron, Steph Curry ‘excited’ to join forces for Paris Olympics

“Maybe we’ll show that one to the guys,” Kerr said. “I love that. And it has to be our attitude this summer.”

After months of planning, it’s time for the U.S. Olympic team — one that will go to the Paris Games later this month seeking a fifth consecutive gold medal — to take the floor. The first practice for the squad is Saturday, the start of a four-day training camp before its exhibition opener against Canada on Wednesday.

Players began arriving Thursday in Las Vegas; Stephen Curry was the first to check in for camp, perhaps underscoring how anxious he is for what will be his first Olympics. The 12 players have all known each other for years, but the task of becoming a team starts in earnest Saturday.

“I feel like it starts when it gets there, because that’s when you really see each other eye-to-eye,” said Bam Adebayo, who is seeking his second gold medal after winning one at the Tokyo Games three years ago. “You have those conversations, you have those many conversations within what we’re going through, what we’re trying to do. And that’s when it’s time to really be honest about what we want to do.”

That part is easy: Win gold.

The how-to-do-it part, that’s the key.

Last year brought another humbling World Cup experience for the U.S.; after finishing seventh in 2019, the Americans were fourth at Manila. But the argument — or justification, for lack of a better word — for those stumbles was that the U.S. wasn’t sending the best possible roster to those tournaments. Getting the big names like Kevin Durant and LeBron James for the Olympics, that’s one thing. Getting them for the World Cup and asking them to represent their country in back-to-back summers, that’s something else.

Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards were on that World Cup team last summer and were picked for this Olympic team as well.

“Obviously, last year we didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Haliburton said. “And that was frustrating because any time you get to represent USA Basketball, the expectation is to win. And we weren’t able to do that.”

READ: Wembanyama ‘can’t wait’ for France-USA showdown at Paris Olympics

This team was put together with a very different ending in mind. James is back on the Olympic team for the first time since 2012 and seeking a third gold, Durant is going for what would be a men’s Olympic record fourth basketball gold, and five other players — Adebayo, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Anthony Davis — each have one. The first-time Olympians are Haliburton, Edwards, Curry, Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid, someone who the U.S. convinced to play despite a strong push by France for the Philadelphia star to represent the host nation in Paris.

As far as choosing a starting lineup, good luck.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Kerr said. “I’m guessing that all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday. So, how do you pick five out of 12? The idea is, you find combinations that click, and you find two-way lineups that can be effective at both ends. Our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing.”



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The Americans play their first exhibition against Canada in Las Vegas, then have games at Abu Dhabi (against Australia and Serbia) and London (against South Sudan and Germany) before the Paris Games start. The U.S. opens Olympic play July 28 against Serbia and will also have group games against South Sudan and the winner of Sunday’s qualifier in Puerto Rico — either Mexico, Lithuania, Italy or Puerto Rico.

“We’ve got 39 days or so to get locked in to go get this gold medal, 12 amazing, talented guys ready to come together for one goal,” Curry said when he arrived to check in for camp. “I’m hyped for it all.”