Steve Kerr may have a tougher job as head coach of Team USA than Gregg Popovich

Pop was always with Team USA at the wrong time, but Kerr has faced PR nightmare after nightmare in 2024.

At first glance, Steve Kerr has it easier as head coach of Team USA than Gregg Popovich did in a few years ago. He has a version of the Dream Team in Paris that should be decently favored in every game, with several MVP’s, champions and perianal All-Stars filling the role of “role” players. That’s much more than Pop could say about the two times he was involved with Team USA.

As an assistant to Larry Brown in 2004 and as head coach in 2020 (which turned into 2021 thanks to COVID-19), Pop drew the short end of the stick. In 2004, when the team infamously lost to Manu Ginobili and Argentina in the semifinals and went on to win bronze (the only time team has not won gold in the Olympics since 1988), many factors played into the squad sporting a “B Team” around Tim Duncan. First and foremost, there was the Kobe Bryant drama that kept him off the basketball court and in a courthouse all summer.

On top of that, the Dream Team had all retired, leaving it up a new generation to carry the torch, and while the 2004 team included future gold medal winners and superstars such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Amar’e Stoudamire, they were all young and well before their primes at that point. In looking at the roster, Allen Iverson was really the only other in-his-prime star on the team next to Duncan. The rest of the squad featured mostly role players who would turn out to be just one or two-time All-Stars, if at all. (Richard Jefferson, Emeka Okafor, etc.)

Then, as Pop was finally fulfilling his dream job as head coach ahead of the 2020 Olympics after a long, unnecessary wait that may have involved some begrudgery from former manager Jerry Colangelo, Pop drew the short end of the stick again. Not only did COVID-19 postpone the Tokyo Olympics to 2021, but players were going to have to return to another bubble, this time in a foreign country with even stricter rules than what they faced in Orlando the summer before. The NBA season was also off schedule after the late start to the 2020-21 season, with the NBA finals ending just three days before the Olympics began.

Most of the Team USA mainstays wanted no part of the bubble or needed the rest (and some in the media would have you believe that not everyone wants to play for Pop), so he was again left with a “B Team” roster, with Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard being the only true superstars on the team. Heck, even Keldon Johnson made the squad with little to no argument because unlike this year (more on that to come), there wasn’t anyone who was being “left out” to make room for him. (And Draymond Green shut down those who did call him out, like Kendrick Perkins, saying how important KJ’s personality was to team comradery.)

Despite “underwhelming” squad compared to what we’re used to seeing at the Olympics, Team USA still pulled it out and won the gold for Pop. Even if it was unspectacular, it was extremely satisfying, with the best moment being Durant and Zach LaVine placing their gold medals around Pop’s neck (reminder: coaches don’t get medals), fulfilling a lifelong dream of his, dating back to not making the Olympic squad as a player.

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

That may have seemed like a lot to overcome and one of the toughest jobs a coach of Team USA has had in the era of NBA players participating, but despite sporting whatever version of the Dream Team this year’s squad is, Steve Kerr may have it tougher, at least from a public relations standpoint. The drama began well before they even got to Paris, and it has mostly centered around Jaylen Brown. Despite being the 2024 Eastern Conference and Finals MVP, he was left out initially in favor of Kawhi Leonard, who has been perpetually injured and again missed the end of the the season and playoffs with a leg injury. Brown was not happy and in part blamed it on his ongoing feud with Nike.

Then, for reasons no one can get a straight answer on, Leonard was soon sent home. Claims have ranged from the Clippers being worried about his health, to the same concerns from Team USA and even to Kerr playing favorites and just not wanting him there. One then would have expected them to replace a forward with a forward and bring in Brown, but instead they surprised everyone by inviting his Celtics teammate and a non-All-Star, Derrick White, claiming his fit was better and they needed more defense at point-of-attack. (Can’t argue too much with that, and of course Spurs fans are happy to see White there, but it was still an unexpected choice, to put it mildly.)

So all the PR around one roster spot has cast a shadow on Kerr, and some poor showings in the warmup scrimmages hasn’t helped. On top of that, managing director Grant Hill has certainly not helped things by feeding the fire with some passive-aggressive comments towards Brown, who has been responding in kind on social media.

Despite the PR issues, all seemed well and good yesterday when the US dominated Nikola Jokic and Serbia to open group play, with LeBron James and Durant looking like the legends they are. But of course, it can’t be without its drama. Not only has there been a longstanding call for Anthony Davis to start over Joel Embiid since he is better suited for the fast pace of international ball, but with such a loaded roster and only 40 minutes per game, someone is going to be left out. Against Serbia, it was Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton despite both playing plenty in the tune-ups.

Tatum was replaced by Durant, who had not played in the scrimmages with calf soreness, and Haliburton by White, who had barely been with the team for two weeks. Kerr especially got flack for not playing Tatum at all, and per usual for him, his explanations to the press didn’t go over well, especially with fans. (He felt like an idiot but needed to find time for Durant, it’s all about match-ups, he’ll get his chance, etc.)

While it’s true that its hard to find time for 12 players in 40 min, it was a blowout by the third quarter, and surely players like Durant, James and Steph Curry could use the rest when warranted considering their age. Kerr has said Tatum will play in their next match against South Sudan, so that means someone else will be the odd man out. Who knows who that will be, but Kerr is in a much more impossible situation than Pop was. He’s having to manage more player egos and satisfy fans (some of whom can’t put NBA rivalries aside for the sake of country), all while facing a gold-or-bust scenario that was somewhat there for Pop, but not as much considering the circumstances and roster he had in Tokyo.

Being the coach of Team USA is a thankless job. It’s more about the players than even the NBA, there’s a short window to work in, no reward, and there’s more pressure to win than perhaps any other job in sports. Even though Pop has faced the toughest scenario of any Team USA coach of the modern era (twice if you include as an assistant in 2004), Kerr may just have a tougher job this year. Sometimes, even coaching a Dream Team can be a lot to handle.