The United States men’s basketball team is on its way to the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics. While the team has one game left in group play, the Americans secured their spot in the quarters on Wednesday with a 103-86 win over South Sudan. It was an interesting game for the United States as South Sudan gave them everything they could handle in the lead-up to the Olympics, as they barely survived when they played in a pre-tournament exhibition.
Before the game, Steve Kerr tweaked his starting lineup and put Joel Embiid on the bench. Embiid, the 2022-23 NBA MVP, ended up not playing at all, as he was the only player who got a DNP-CD against South Sudan. And after the game, Kerr addressed the situation by making it clear this was 100 percent a matchup-dependent move, with Embiid in line to regain his spot in the starting lineup in the team’s group finale against Puerto Rico.
Steve Kerr said he Joel Embiid received DNP-CD against South Sudan because USA wanted to better match up with their team speed.
– Kerr will start LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Embiid versus Puerto Rico on Friday.— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 31, 2024
After the game, Kevin Durant praised Embiid (and Jayson Tatum, who did not play in the opener) for accepting the role.
USA Basketball’s Kevin Durant on the DNP-CDs for Jayson Tatum & Joel Embiid: “Last game, we had a champion and an all-NBA guy not play any minutes, and tonight we had an MVP not play any minutes. They didn’t complain. We had guys who stepped up and filled those roles perfectly.”
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 31, 2024
Embiid, who chose to play for the U.S. on the international stage over Cameroon and France, had started every game in the lead-up to the Olympics and in the team’s opener against Serbia, but Kerr decided to go with Anthony Davis in the starting lineup and Bam Adebayo off the bench — Adebayo, in particular, had an excellent game against South Sudan. But it appears that Kerr learned from the first game, where Tatum getting a DNP-CD turned into a thing in the aftermath, and made it a point to say that Embiid will get back into the starting lineup on Saturday.