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.”

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

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

Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Micah Parsons is among the NFL stars who have expressed interest in playing for the United States flag football team when the Olympics come to Los Angeles.

As the Paris Games closed on Sunday night, Parsons said he wanted to take a break from football after the 2027 season to focus on the 2028 Olympics.

“After 2027 ima take a break from football to prepare for the Olympics!” he wrote on X.

He added: “I need to find a way to get in the Olympics by 2028! What events yall think I can do?? Need ideas!!”

It’s unclear whether NFL players will be allowed to compete for Team USA at the Olympics.

USA Football announced its national team men’s and women’s rosters for the IFAF Flag Football World Championships, which start on Aug. 27 in Finland. The U.S. is in Group A in both the men’s and women’s competitions. There were no NFL players on the roster.

NFL stars Patrick Mahomes, Kyle Juszczyk and Joe Burrow have expressed interest in competing in the Olympics.

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons walks on the field during training camp at River Ridge Playing Fields on July 25, 2024, in Oxnard, California. (Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I 100% want to play flag football in 2028,” Juszczyk told Fox News Digital in an interview last month. “And whoever’s in charge of that selection committee, please go watch my 2022 Pro Bowl highlight tape. That is my resume for the Olympics. Hopefully, I can find a way to get in there.”

STEPH CURRY’S FAMILY, NBA TEAMMATE INVOLVED IN EMOTIONAL INCIDENT WITH PARIS AUTHORITIES

Burrow made his declaration in an interview on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.”

“I really want to play for the Olympic flag football team. Like Me, Ja’marr (Chase), Justin (Jefferson)… Me and my friends out there playing football. I think it’d be really cool.”

Nearly a year ago, Mahomes said the same.

“NFL football, American football, has taken to further parts, all the way across the world, with flag football coming to the Olympics. I think it’s really cool, because football is a great game that has given me so much, and I want to make sure everyone gets the same experience that I got growing up,” Mahomes said at a news conference in November, according to the Olympics website.

Tom Cruise helps transfer the Olympic flag from Paris to the 2028 host city, Los Angeles, during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Aug. 11, 2024. (Lu Lin/Chinasports/VCG via Getty Images)

“I definitely want to, but I’ve seen some of those guys play the flag football, and they’re a little faster than I am,” he said. “I know there’s not, like, linemen blocking for you. I’ll be 31, 32 years old, so if I can still move around then, I’m going to try to get out there and throw the football around maybe in LA. Just don’t tell coach Reid or [general manager Brett] Veach or anybody.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in October the league was “committed to working together to strengthen flag football’s place in the Olympic movement long-term, and we look forward to continuing this exciting journey with IFAF, the LA28 Organizing Committee, the International Olympic Committee and USA Football.”

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

PARIS — “A Gold Medal in Four Acts,” authored by and starring Wardell Stephen Curry.

Stephen Curry hugged Kevin Durant at midcourt at Bercy Arena. They each had hold of a U.S. flag, that enveloped both of them. They had won back-to-back NBA championships together, when they changed the path of the league by joining forces with the Golden State Warriors. Now, they were celebrating something that only a few people get to do in basketball: win an Olympic gold medal, in another country. And, very few people have had to do it as, essentially, the road team, with a sellout crowd here doing everything in its power to will its beloved French national team to an improbable, titanic upset.

But Curry, simply, would not allow it.

With four 3-pointers in the last three minutes, on four shots, one more ridiculous than the last, with the last defying all common sense and logic, Curry secured the United States’ fifth straight gold medal in men’s Olympic basketball, holding off France, 98-87. It was Durant’s fourth gold medal. His place as the greatest player in U.S. international basketball history is secure. This was Curry’s first gold. At 36, it may well be his only gold. But he wanted this so, so badly, and has wanted it for a long, long time.

“We always say, you do what the game calls for, and what you kind of feel in the flow,” Curry said afterward, after he’d hit eight 3-pointers Saturday, to go with the nine he’d made in the Americans’ incredible come-from-behind victory over Serbia in the semifinals.

LeBron James was a worthy MVP of the tournament. What he did during this fortnight, at age 39, is simply beyond description. But Curry was the indispensable man the last two games, when the medals were on the line. That he did it after not shooting well at all during group play is just part of the Curry legend.

“Coach (Steve Kerr) reminded me, at a certain point, early, the game will come to you if you allow it,” Curry said. “And even if I was missing shots, just stay engaged. And that kind of fed into being locked in for these last two games, because the game called for me to get shots up, and knock them down. … you just stay confident, stay present, and don’t get rattled by the moment.”

There was a reason Curry was so excited — “like a little kid,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said back in April — when he was formally invited to play for USA Basketball, after being injured in 2016, and opting not to play in Japan in 2021. There was no doubt, once James and Durant committed again to playing for their country, that Curry would join them.

“And I had two extra months to practice,” Curry said, referring to the Warriors not making the playoffs this past season.

The Americans had the upper hand for most of the game Saturday. But a sloppy end of the third quarter, with more miscues in the fourth, and the ravenous home crowd keeping the energy up, gave France an opening. And they took advantage. They cut a 13-point deficit early in the third quarter to six by that quarter’s end. Then, five, with 3:32 left. Then, three, on Victor Wembanyama’s offensive rebound dunk with 3:04 remaining. Bercy was berserk. The impossible dream, of avenging their 2021 loss to the U.S. in Tokyo, was within their sights.

“Down the stretch, Steph took over,” Kerr said. “He actually suggested in the timeout, ‘Let me run a clear side pick and roll with LeBron and we’ll clear the floor.’ I said OK, because I’ve seen this before, and it usually turns out well.”

Act I

USA 82, France 79, 3:04 remaining

Curry shot-fakes France’s Guerschon Yabusele, then rises right of the key from 26 feet, and, with Yabusele’s hands at his sides, drains a 3 to put the U.S. team back up by six. He gives the French fans the palms-down, calm-yourselves-down treatment on the way back up the court.

CURRY TIME. 🥶

A huge three to shift the momentum late. #ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/kDSOCr9bao

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

“Steph earned this, the last few weeks,” Kerr said. “The last couple of weeks, every day, the work ethic. I tell people all the time, when Kevin was with our team, my favorite part of practice with the Warriors was after practice, watching these two work. It’s not an accident that they’re able to do what they’re able to do down the stretch of games. The work, just watching these two guys, day after day after day, is really impressive. I’ve talked about LeBron, during this experience as well. When you see these guys behind the scenes, and how hard they work, how much they love the process of the work itself, it all makes sense that they’re as good as they are.”

Act II 

USA 87, France 81, 2:10 remaining

This time, Curry shot-fakes Nicolas Batum, then steps to the side from 27 feet. “Bang,” as Mike Breen would say. As he runs back up court, Curry points to his chest and says something to the U.S. bench. It appeared he was saying, “They can’t guard me!” Maybe he said, “They can’t (bleeping) guard me!’”(Although, Curry doesn’t cuss much at all, really.) At any rate, it’s becoming clear that he’s correct, and the French can’t (bleeping) guard him.

Intermission

In which various Olympic teammates talk about the greatest shooter in NBA history …

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers: “I’ve seen it before. Different uniform, though.”

Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns: “Out of body experience.”

Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves: “I was able to witness greatness. … Watching Steph? Hey, I was just telling him, ‘Boy, you crazy, bro.’ Shorty went crazy. I ain’t got nothing to say about it. He is who he is, you feel me?”

Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat: “I was kind of like, ‘What the f—?’ But, then I had to remember who was shooting it. And we’ve all seen him do incredible things like that.”

Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers: “Like I said, it’s fun to be on (his) side. Big shots after big shots. And the level of difficulty of those shots, and the moment, it was tremendous.”

Act III

USA 90, France 84, 1:43 remaining

This time, it’s Nando de Colo in the crockpot. Curry, shot fake, pulls up … you know how this goes by now, right?

Cooked de Colo.

The U.S. is back up nine, with 1:18 to go. And Curry starts screaming — a primordial type of yell, that “Og,” living in Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains, may have screamed when the rocks he had been rubbing together for a week finally flinted, and there was fire, and Og could finally cook the mastodon he’d killed a week ago. Or, it could be the yell of a 36-year-old man who’d desperately wanted to be an Olympian for so long, and hadn’t been able to, but was finally doing so in the most amazing way possible in what will likely be the last two games of his Olympic career.

Act IV

USA 93, France 87, 0:55 remaining

France, a smart, veteran team, coached by a legend in Vincent Collet, now double-teams Curry, sending both Batum and Evan Fournier at him off the pick and roll. They’re “blitzing” him, in NBA parlance, trying to make him pass the ball to someone else. In addition, the shot clock, now the size of a small hovercraft placed on Curry’s back, was ticking down toward zero. But Curry goes behind his back, takes a dribble right of the key, and lets it fly, over both Batum’s and Fournier’s outstretched arms, from somewhere near Nice.

Splash.

“THE GOLDEN DAGGER!”

Steph Curry that is utterly ridiculous. 🤯#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/8hIN8tgmfK

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— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

“Every shot you take, you think it’s going in,” Curry said. “That was at the end of a solid flurry of shots,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, all I saw was the rim. I didn’t see who was in front of me. I knew it was kind of a late-clock situation. That impressed me. I impressed myself, for sure. For sure.”

And he gave a whole nation the night-night, as he ran back up the floor. Good effort, France, good effort.

“Honestly, I told him, ‘No way you making that,’” Edwards said. “‘Cause he threw it up high. But, he cold. He cold.”

An aside: A France team with Nolan Traoré, a near-lock to be a top-five pick in the 2025 NBA draft after playing next season for the French team Saint-Quentin, running the point in 2028 for France in Los Angeles, with Wemby and Rudy Gobert and Bilal Coulibaly and Yabusele, and maybe Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher and Tidjane Salaun by then … well, let’s just say that would be a hell of a rematch between the U.S. and Les Bleus. And if Embiid pulled an ultimate Heel Turn, a la Hogan at Bash at the Beach in ’96, and decided to play for France? Sacré Bleu!

Will Curry be in Los Angeles, at 40? I mean, Durant didn’t rule it out when asked, and he’s been playing for USA Basketball for 14 years. Who knows what Chef Curry can cook up next?

“It’s everything I imagined, and more,” Curry said of this, his first Olympic experience. “We all signed up for this mission, to continue USA Basketball’s dominance. Obviously, I understood it was going to be a really tough task, with some great teams that we were going to face. It’s a sense of relief, at the end, but it’s more like a sense of accomplishment, obviously knowing what we were able to do. I’ve seen the medal ceremonies at other events. I’ve seen (Durant) get all three of his. I’ve watched it and envisioned what it would feel like. It wasn’t really like knocking something off of my resume, it was more ’cause I haven’t experienced it yet, and not knowing what it was going to be like. … Everything was eye-opening, from start to finish.”

(Top photo of Stephen Curry: Christina Pahnke – sampics / Getty Images)