It was set up to be the summer of Jayson Tatum after the Duke basketball star won his first NBA Title, signed the richest contract in NBA history, was named as the cover athlete of NBA2K25, and was heading to Paris in an attempt to win his second gold medal at the Olympics.

All was going according to plan until Tatum never took off his warmup gear as Team USA defeated Serbia, 110-84, on Sunday in its first game of Pool C action.

Tatum was expected to be a key fixture on the floor for the Americans, but things changed when Kevin Durant was cleared to play after missing all of trainign camp as well as the team’s exhibitions with a calf strain.

Durant came off the bench for 23 points, only missing one of his nine shot attempts in the victory.

Head coach Steve Kerr said that the return of Durant and the need for size against Serbia was going to limit Tatum’s playing time.

“It’s tough, but Jayson handled it really well,” Kerr said to ESPN after the game. He also explained that he spoke to Tatum prior to tipoff and told him that there could be a chance he wasn’t used in the matchup.

“I felt like an idiot not playing him,” he continued.