USA Basketball Made Two Big Starting Lineup Changes Against South Sudan

After Sunday’s dominant win over Serbia, the USA men’s basketball team left little in the way of questions about their ability to win yet another gold medal. However, that wasn’t to say the game didn’t cause a bit of a stir due to rotation choices by coach Steve Kerr, particularly Jayson Tatum being the odd man out of the rotation (along with Tyrese Haliburton, which was expected) in Kevin Durant’s return.

Kerr said leaving a guy as talented as Tatum on the bench all game made him feel “like an idiot,” but noted it was a matchup situation and that Tatum would play in their next game against South Sudan. Beyond Tatum’s absence from the rotation, the Americans continued their trend of sluggish starts with Joel Embiid in the starting lineup, as he finished as a -8 in 11 minutes of play in a 26-point win. Since the exhibition games, fans have been calling for Anthony Davis to move into the starting lineup, as he just fits better with the style of play this USA team is best at, which is pushing the pace and trying to get up and down the floor.

On Wednesday, Kerr made it clear that he’s seeing all of these things too, and made a pair of starting lineup changes for the South Sudan game — looking to avoid another scare like they got in London a week ago.

Davis entered the starting lineup for Embiid, while Tatum joined the starting group after not playing last game, with Jrue Holiday moving to the bench. Given South Sudan’s size, it seems Kerr wanted to go with a more switchable lineup 2-5, with Stephen Curry remaining at the point, and now he has some options to try and create a bench lineup that is maybe more suited to Embiid’s strengths — or just not play him at all, as he was the lone DNP of the first half.