Steve Kerr knows what he’s doing.
Amid all of the consternation over Jayson Tatum’s Team USA benching at the Paris Olympics , Kerr achieved the main objective last summer in France by leading the Americans to the gold medal. Will the supposed disrespect of Tatum, a first-team All-NBA forward and reigning NBA champion, incite a season-long revenge tour against the NBA? We shall see. Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla hopes so .
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Kerr made another surprising lineup call Tuesday before his Golden State Warriors played the first of back-to-back games against the New Orleans Pelicans. He benched forward Jonathan Kuminga in a decision that drew a similar “Oh, what is Kerr doing now?” vibe from the summer with Team USA. But the change was warranted.
As he explained after the Warriors’ 124-106 win (without Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and DeAnthony Melton), Kerr took Kuminga out of the starting lineup to create “more spacing on the floor” with Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Kuminga sat in favor of guard Brandin Podziemski but was told by Kerr that he would “play a lot.”