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Can USA Basketball mend fences with Tatum, get younger for L.A. 2028?

Published

2 years ago

August 12, 2024

Can USA Basketball mend fences with Tatum, get younger for L.A. 2028?

PARIS — Jayson Tatum stood in the arena loading dock Saturday night, an Olympic gold medal draped around his neck and untold bottles of champagne waiting for him, answering questions about his personal disappointment and his mom coming to his defense on social media.

This should have been, and in many ways still was, the Summer of Tatum. His first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics. A $314-million contract extension. The birth of his second child. And yes, a second gold medal in as many Olympics, this time as a member of arguably the greatest team ever assembled.

But Tatum’s role on the fringe of Team USA’s rotation was not one he’s used to, or was prepared for, and the two games he didn’t play in during the Americans’ run to gold made for huge news and hot debate back home.

“I keep trying to say, I’m trying not to make it about me, all the storylines over the last few days — we won,” Tatum said after the Americans’ 98-87 triumph over France, in which Tatum did play and contributed two points and three rebounds in 11 minutes. “We won a gold medal, and that was most important.”

Because they won, the debate is moot. History will judge U.S. coach Steve Kerr favorably for managing this team as he did, for riding Devin Booker as a starter over Tatum, for using Derrick White as a point-of-attack defender off the bench until the Americans played France, when Tatum’s length was more valuable to the team than what White brought as a defense-first guard.

Had the Americans lost at any point this summer, and especially in the medal rounds, with Tatum on the bench, then yes, Kerr and Team USA’s executives would have been crushed with criticism for not finding a bigger role for someone who has been a first-team All-NBA selection three years in a row.

But they didn’t lose, so the arguments and the takes no longer matter. What is important, vitally important, for U.S. men’s basketball now, though, is how Tatum feels. Because the program still needs him and will need him.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to be making any decision off emotions,” Tatum said. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028, it is four years from now, and I would have to take time and think about that. So I’m not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”

After a lot of time spent on the bench in Paris, Jayson Tatum isn’t sure about L.A. in 2028. “I’m not going to be making any decision off emotions,” he said. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

The U.S. has now won five consecutive men’s basketball gold medals. They all count, but this one felt bigger in terms of importance because of the team the Americans sent to Paris. The names and the resumes belonging to LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid, to say nothing of the other eight stars, including Tatum, drew constant comparisons to the Dream Team of 1992. If this team couldn’t win, what would that say about the state of USA Basketball moving forward?

Thanks to the heroics of the Americans’ three elder statesmen, no one had to answer that question. But the team the U.S. fields four summers from now, when the Games are on American soil in Los Angeles, will be influenced greatly by the experience of this summer.

Whether it was the choice made by USA executives to go all in on All-Stars, instead of sprinkling in more role players, or how the players who could return to the team in 2028 feel about the journey they just completed, the next chapter of American basketball on the international stage will be written based in large part on the chapter that finished so gloriously late Saturday night in the City of Light.

“You can’t keep everyone happy,” USA managing director Grant Hill — who won a gold medal as a player in 1996 — said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “But I think you win a gold medal and everyone feels like they contributed. I think people will come out of this with a positive outlook on the entire experience.

“And, you know, we’ll have to revamp and figure things out in four years.”

As Hill said in that interview, which was first published Friday, the team was constructed with 11 All-Stars (12, if you count Kawhi Leonard before he was replaced by Derrick White) in part because of the versatility of the top teams in the world, but also in case James, Curry or Durant couldn’t play at the highest level.

James will be 43 in 2028. He said Saturday he did not expect to play for Team USA at the Los Angeles Games. Curry will be 40, and while he left himself room to change his mind — “never say never” is what he said — he suggested Paris would be his first and only Olympics. Durant will be 39 and has battled injuries the last few years, but he could easily decide he wants to be the men’s version of Diana Taurasi or Sue Bird and go for a fifth Olympic gold.

Even if Durant were healthy enough to sign up for another Olympic tour, he would not likely be the alpha, dominant player he’s been in his first four Games. Jrue Holiday will be 38 in 2028; he is probably finished after two gold medals. Anthony Davis will be 35 in 2028 and White, who will be 34, could be back, but it would depend in part on Davis’ interest and also what kind of team the Americans want to build.

The U.S. would love to get another Olympics out of Embiid, whom Hill successfully recruited away from France through occasional, low-pressure, open-ended discussions while the French demanded Embiid make good on the passport he asked for by playing for Les Bleus.

But when asked what he thought of his first Olympics, and if he might be interested in another go when he’ll be 34 in 2028, Embiid said, “It’s been a grind.

“That’s one thing I’ll say being gone for a few weeks away from family, away from home,” Embiid said. “But then again, I think being with Team USA, the group of guys that we have, the people around has made it easy to just enjoy it. And then Paris is a great city too, and then the next one is in LA. We’ll see. I don’t know, maybe it might not be with Team USA, maybe it might be with Cameroon, so we’ll see.”

Joel Embiid spent most of these two weeks being chided by French fans for choosing to play for the U.S. “It’s been a grind,” he said Saturday. (Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Embiid, born in Cameroon, could not play for his native country without releases from both FIBA and USA Basketball, since he played for the Americans this summer.

Bam Adebayo is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He will be 31 in 2028, but his coach for the Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra, could well be the next coach for Team USA (Kerr has said he will step down from his role after the Paris Games). Spoelstra served as an assistant to Kerr on this year’s team.

“A lot of people don’t get these opportunities, one, to be able to compete for your country, and two, to be able to win a gold medal,” Adebayo said. “So just having both of those in mind, you can’t pass on an opportunity like this.”

Booker, like Adebayo and Tatum, is a veteran of the last two Olympics and will be 31 for the Los Angeles Games. Booker took on a “lesser” role with Team USA, insofar as he elected to defend, rebound and do the dirty work until open shots came to him (he is, of course, a prolific scorer for the Suns). By thriving in what was asked of him, Booker started every game at the Paris Olympics.

“Devin Booker is an incredible basketball player,” Kerr said. “He was our unsung MVP — I just wanted to say that.”

If anyone has positive feelings about a return for the next Olympics, it would be Booker.

Roster building for most countries is a more singular, holistic approach of building a national team that plays in all the high-profile tournaments, including Olympics and FIBA World Cups — which now are held the year before the Olympics.

The problem for Hill and USA Basketball is most American NBA superstars have decided they do not want to play consecutive summers. So, for the time being, Hill will likely have to piece together rosters of younger rising stars for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar, and then decide who among those players he can elevate to the Olympic team with more established stars.

GO DEEPER

Even for Stephen Curry, that Olympic gold-medal game performance was ridiculous

Anthony Edwards was Team USA’s youngest player at 22 this summer. He came off Kerr’s bench and enjoyed some huge scoring games at the Olympics, including his 26 points against Puerto Rico. He has said he is interested in more Olympic experiences for the U.S., but no more World Cups.

“Hell nah,” Edwards said, when asked if he would consider a second appearance at a World Cup.

Tyrese Haliburton is only 24, and he and Edwards were the lone players asked to play at the Olympics from the 2023 World Cup team that finished fourth in the Philippines. But unlike Edwards, Haliburton played the fewest minutes of anyone this summer, with “DNP–coach’s decision” next to his name in four games.

When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A🏅 pic.twitter.com/xpshYZhMyA
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) August 10, 2024

Haliburton came into the Olympic run aware that his role would be reduced from what it was in 2023, when he set a U.S. record for assists at a World Cup, but Haliburton’s playing time nose-dived once White joined the team.

Paolo Banchero, another member of USA’s last World Cup team, was under serious consideration for the Paris Olympics and is a player Hill wants to feature in Olympiads to come.

Jaylen Brown, a superstar on the Boston Celtics whose only experience on the national team was in 2019 at the World Cup in China, felt snubbed by not making the 2024 Olympic team either as an original member or as a replacement for Leonard. He was openly critical of being left off the roster on social media. Hill told All the Smoke’s “Open Run” with Rachel Nichols last week that Brown “will be a candidate in ’28 if he wants in.”

“Oh yeah,” Hill said. “One thing I’ve learned. You can’t take anything personal in this role. And so, I haven’t personalized anything. My goal, my objective is to win. As soon as … that happens, we pivot and start looking ahead to the future.”

And of course, there are any number of current NBA stars, or borderline stars, or future stars who could be a great fit for Team USA in 2028. Perhaps even a player who is not yet in the NBA, like Cooper Flagg, who is headed for his first and likely only season at Duke before turning pro.

What is certain is the pressure to win at home will be great, and will come with enormous challenges from the world’s other top teams — including France.

The French have narrowly lost the last two gold-medal games to the United States. Victor Wembanyama is only 20, and the San Antonio Spurs superstar was dominant against the Americans Saturday with 26 points and as a presence on defense. Four Frenchmen were drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft last June.

Zaccharie Risacher went No. 1 to the Atlanta Hawks, and the Washington Wizards selected 7-footer Alex Sarr with the second pick. The Charlotte Hornets drafted forward Tidjane Salaün at No. 6, and Pacôme Dadiet was selected 25th by the New York Knicks. None of the four were on the French national team this summer, but it’s likely all could join Wembanyama and the Washington Wizards’ Bilal Coulibaly as young, upcoming NBA players (stars?) at the next World Cup and Olympics.

Les Bleus are just one example, although maybe the best one, of how hard it’s going to be for the Americans to keep winning gold medals every four years, regardless of who is on the roster.

“I’m learning, and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple years,” Wembanyama said Saturday, a silver medal dangling from his neck, not far from where Tatum was standing.

Asked if he meant he was “worried” for opponents in the NBA, or on the international stage, Wemby said: “Everywhere.”

Including Los Angeles, in four years.

GO DEEPER

‘Everything I imagined, and more’: Team USA’s gold medal game seals NBA stars’ legacies

(Top photo of Bam Adebayo, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and LeBron James celebrating Saturday’s win: Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

Published

51 minutes ago

March 10, 2026

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.

But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.

White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.

Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))

“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”

White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.

UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT

The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.

On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.

UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.

“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”

Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.

Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.

Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

Sports

With U.S. at war with Iran, political upheaval could engulf World Cup

Published

2 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

With U.S. at war with Iran, political upheaval could engulf World Cup

Twelve days ago the U.S., a World Cup host country, launched a full-scale bombing campaign against Iran, a country that has qualified to play in the tournament. That’s never happened before.

Five days later, that same World Cup host began military operations inside the borders of Ecuador, another World Cup qualifier, half a world away. That’s never happened before either.

With the tournament scheduled to kick off in three months, those events have soccer scholar Jonathan Wilson questioning whether it’s wise for the World Cup to go on at all.

“It seems to me, for each passing day, it’s less and less likely that the World Cup can happen,” he said.

That take seems unduly alarmist said David Goldblatt, a British sportswriter and sociologist who is a visiting professor at Pitzer College in Claremont. Anything short of a full-scale war inside the U.S. would not be enough to pull the plug on the tournament now, he said. Especially with FIFA expecting revenues of as much as $11 billion.

“I mean, it’s not a good look,” Goldblatt conceded. “And certainly when set against FIFA’s official pronouncements on its role in encouraging world peace and cosmopolitan celebrations of a universal humanity, none of that sits terribly easily.

“But in terms of actually running the World Cup, I don’t think it’s going to make very much difference at all.”

However, with the Trump administration open to engaging in more international conflicts, there’s little doubt this World Cup, the largest and most complex in history, will also be the most political in history as well.

Complicating things further is the fact the current conflict in the Middle East hasn’t been limited to just the U.S. and Iran. Iranian missiles have hit both Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among other countries, and Jordan has fired on U.S. assets.

Those three countries are World Cup qualifiers as well.

The fate of a soccer tournament pales in importance to the death and destruction the conflagration in the Middle East has produced, of course. But the need for unity is the very reason there’s a World Cup in the first place.

When French soccer administrator Jules Rimet founded the tournament 96 years ago, he believed soccer could be a tool for international peace. And in the early years of the tournament, Rimet, FIFA’s longest-serving president and a talented diplomat, was able to limit the impact of geopolitics on the World Cup, watering down Mussolini’s influence on the 1934 World Cup, for example, and steering the 1938 tournament away from Hitler’s Germany.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has taken a far different approach, courting President Donald Trump’s support despite his growing number of global conflicts.

A week before bombs began falling on Iran, Infantino appeared at the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace wearing a red cap with ‘USA’ on the front and the numbers ‘45-47’ — a reference to Trump’s non-consecutive presidencies. That act was so blatantly partisan, IOC president Kirsty Coventry said her organization would investigate whether Infantino, an IOC member, breached the terms of the group’s charter, which requires members to act independent of political interests.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino holds up a USA hat as he attends the inaugural meeting for the Board of Peace at the Institute of Peace in Washington on Feb. 19.

(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

“Infantino has absolutely breached every FIFA protocol on neutrality,” said Wilson, author of “The Power and Glory: The History of the World Cup.”

“Absolute neutrality is always impossible and not desirable, but it has clearly gone way, way, way beyond. The peace prize looked grotesque at the time. It looks even worse now. And I can’t see how the future will look kindly on Infantino. I think Infantino has to some extent legitimized Trump.”

This is hardly new behavior from Infantino, who had close relationships with Vladimir Putin ahead of the 2018 tournament played in Russia and Qatar’s leaders ahead of the 2022 tournament despite their well-known human rights violations.

The list of countries Infantino is asking to overlook poor relations with the country hosting the majority of World Cup games this summer is growing.

Consider that Denmark, which administers Greenland, an autonomous territory Trump has also threatened to invade, can qualify for the tournament in a European playoff that will take place later this month. Then there’s World Cup qualifiers Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal, who aren’t at war with the U.S. but whose citizens have been banned from entering the country to cheer for their teams. That completely contradicts a promise from Infantino, who said “everybody will be welcome” at the 2026 World Cup.

“If I had a crystal ball I could tell you now what is going to happen,” Heimo Schirgi, the World Cup chief operating officer for FIFA, said Monday. “But obviously the situation is developing. It’s changing day by day and we are monitoring closely. [But] the World Cup will go on right? The World Cup is too big and we hope that everyone can participate that has qualified.”

Goldblatt, the Pitzer professor, said Infantino’s action are understandable since he has few cards to play against Trump.

President Trump speaks as he receives the FIFA Peace Prize while FIFA president Gianni Infantino applauds Friday.

“What’s Infantino going to do? What levers can you pull?” he asked. “You can threaten to take it away. That’s not happening. Moral admonishment? Who’s going to take that from FIFA? It is a farcical idea that anybody thinks that the president of FIFA has any kind of collective moral authority or any role as a spokesperson for the progressive part of the world.

“They may fantasize that this is the case. But it is morally and politically absurd that any of us should expect that of these people. So if you are Infantino and that is the case, you know what works with Trump? What works is flattery. So of course he’s gone down that path.”

The games, Goldblatt said, will go on even if bombs are still falling. And that may not be an entirely bad thing.

“Football’s a great distraction. That’s partly why it’s so popular,” he said. “It will be virtually impossible, if the war continues, for that not to be a central element of like, the meaning and the purpose of what we’re all doing here.

“How we’ll feel and what it will look like, I don’t know. It will be very strange. Football is unpredictable and extraordinary. Something will happen that will warm our souls.”

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

Sports

Australia grants asylum to 5 Iranian women’s soccer players amid Iran conflict

Published

13 hours ago

March 10, 2026

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Australia grants asylum to 5 Iranian women’s soccer players amid Iran conflict

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Australia granted asylum to five players from the Iranian women’s soccer team who were visiting for a tournament when the U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran began.

Australian federal police officers on Tuesday transported the five women from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia, to a “safe location” after they made asylum requests to meet with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and to finalize the processing of their humanitarian visas.

“Last night I was able to tell five women from the Iranian Women’s Soccer team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, to be safe and have a home here,” Burke said on X.

The move comes after the team refused to sing the Iranian anthem before their first Women’s Asian Cup match early last week against South Korea, although they later sang and saluted the anthem in two subsequent matches, including ahead of their final match, when they were eliminated by the Philippines.

IRANIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER FANS SHOW SUPPORT FOR TRUMP AS TEAM APPEARS TO PIVOT ON NATIONAL ANTHEM STANCE

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke poses with five Iranian women soccer players who have been granted asylum in Australia, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Australia Ministry of Home Affairs)

“I don’t want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief,” Burke told reporters after signing the documents. “People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia.”

The five women said they were happy for their names and pictures to be published, according to Burke, who emphasized that the players wanted to make clear that they were not political activists.

The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the tournament before the war against Iran began on Feb. 28.

After the team was eliminated from the tournament over the weekend, they faced potentially returning to a country still under bombardment. The team’s head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, said on Sunday the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can.”

An official squad list named 26 players, as well as Jafari and other coaches.

While only five players were granted asylum, Burke said the offer was given to everyone on the team.

IRAN FLAG REMOVED FROM PARALYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY AFTER SOLE ATHLETE WITHDRAWS OVER TRAVEL SAFETY CONCERNS

Iran players during their national anthem ahead of the Women’s Asian Cup soccer match between Iran and the Philippines in Robina, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAPImage via AP)

“These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realize they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” Burke said. “The opportunity will continue to be there for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.”

It remains unclear when the remaining players will leave Australia.

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. “They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”

“They then had to consider that and do it in a way that did not present any danger to them or to their families and friends back home in Iran,” he continued.

The asylum offer came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it.

Trump had blasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” by allowing the team to be “forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.”

Supporters react towards a bus transporting Iranian woman players following their Women’s Asian Cup soccer match against the Philippines on the Gold Coast, Australia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Dave Hunt/AAP Image via AP)

“The U.S. will take them if you won’t,” Trump said, despite his administration’s efforts to limit the number of immigrants in the U.S. who can receive asylum for political purposes.

Just hours later, Trump praised Albanese in another post.

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“He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way,” Trump wrote.

Albanese said Trump had called him for “a very positive conversation,” about the issue. The prime minister said he explained “the action that we’d undertaken over the previous 48 hours” to support the women.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.