The United States men’s basketball team did bench a center for Wednesday’s matchup against South Sudan. It just wasn’t the one that Brian Windhorst thought it might.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week, the ESPN reporter discussed the rotation crunch that Team USA head coach Steve Kerr is facing after benching Jayson Tatum for the U.S.’s group stage opener against Serbia on Sunday. While doing so, Windhorst noted that Team USA’s rotations will continue to evolve and that Tatum playing against South Sudan on Wednesday would likely result in one of the team’s centers being on the outside looking in.
“South Sudan’s got a bunch of athletic wing players,” Windhorst said. “Tatum’s gonna be out there. They’re gonna be switching all of those screens because they gotta play the perimeter, and there may be a guy like Bam Adebayo that gets benched.”
Windhorst was right that Team USA would bench a center. Only it wasn’t Adebayo, but rather Joel Embiid who fell out of the U.S.’s rotation on Wednesday. Taking to X following his 18-point, seven-rebound performance in Team USA’s 103-86 victory, the Miami Heat star reposted a clip of Windhorst’s previous analysis, along with a gif of a seemingly confused 50 Cent.
https://t.co/G9fQ57gAvT pic.twitter.com/qxTmCRUG5x
— 13am Adebayo💥 (@Bam1of1) July 31, 2024
In Windhorst’s defense, he didn’t actually predict that Adebayo would be benched — he just mentioned it as a possibility. And while he didn’t target the right player, Embiid’s benching ultimately proved his analysis largely correct.
All things considered, suggesting that it could have been Adebayo to get benched against South Sudan was more than understandable. If Kerr was willing to bench Tatum — and Embiid, for that matter — then the idea of Adebayo not playing in a game was hardly far fetched.
Adebayo, however, clearly didn’t see it that way, which is understandable considering his status as a three-time All-Star and perennial All-Defensive Team selection. He’s also not the only member of Team USA to go at Windhorst recently, as the ESPN reporter noted that Kevin Durant wasn’t happy with his reporting regarding the 2014 MVP’s attempt to recover from a calf injury ahead of the start of group stage play.
Such is the life of an NBA insider, in which you travel more than 4,400 miles — with some luggage issues along the way — only to have some of the league’s biggest stars question your work. By this point, Windhorst’s status as one of ESPN’s top reporters, regardless of the sport, has been well established. And if his unique blend of informed insight draws the ire of the subjects he’s covering, so be it.
