United States’ Jayson Tatum, left, gets tied up by Brazil’s Marcelinho Huertas during Team USA’s 122-87 win in a quarterfinal game at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Jayson Tatum knows his surprisingly limited Olympic role will give him extra motivation when the Boston Celtics’ season begins this fall.

But that didn’t make it any more palatable in the moment.

After Team USA defeated France, 98-87, on Saturday to claim its fifth straight gold medal, Tatum acknowledged that his lack of playing time was difficult to digest.

Tatum, a first-team All-NBA selection in each of the last three seasons, played in just four of Team USA’s six games in Paris, scoring a total of 21 points in the tournament. He did not leave the bench in the Americans’ come-from-behind win over Serbia in the semifinals and had two points, three rebounds and one steal in 11 minutes in the gold medal game.

“A lot of people text me and reached out and said, ‘Make sure this fuels you,’ which I appreciate. There’s a lot of people that care about me,” Tatum told reporters in Paris, via ESPN. “I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I’m still human. …

“Part of being in the moment, I’ve sacrificed and put a lot into this game and work really, really hard. So in the moment it is tough. You’re not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or (whenever) the season is, but like I said, it’s something I’m going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It’s definitely challenging and humbling at the same time.”

U.S. Coach Steve Kerr faced criticism from current and former NBA players, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, and Tatum’s mother after not using the Boston superstar against Serbia. Kerr called the benching a “math problem” and said it was not related to Tatum’s performance.

Team USA’s roster for the 2024 Olympics was one of the strongest in the nation’s history, featuring four NBA MVPs (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid) and seven players with at least one first-team All-NBA nod.

James, Durant and Curry – three of the greatest players in NBA history – were the team’s engine in the medal rounds, combining for 114 points in the wins over Serbia and France. Curry had 60 of those on 17-for-26 3-point shooting (65.4%) and nailed four late 3-pointers on Saturday to secure gold for the U.S.

This likely was the final Olympiad for those three future Hall of Famers, approaching or over 40 years old when the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles arrive. The 26-year-old Tatum should be a core member of the next Olympic team – unless his experience in Paris deters him from participating.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I’m not going to make any decision off emotions,” said Tatum, who joined James and Michael Jordan as the only players ever to make first-team All-NBA, win an NBA title and earn Olympic gold in the same year. “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.”

TRACK AND FIELD: Olympic javelin gold medalist Arshad Nadeem received a total of $897,000 on Tuesday as Pakistan continued to celebrate his record-breaking throw at the Paris Games.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced $538,000 for Nadeem at a special ceremony to honor the star athlete in Islamabad. Sharif’s announcement came hours after Punjab’s chief minister Mariam Nawaz visited Nadeem’s house in a village in the Mian Channu district and presented him with a check for $359,000.

Nawaz also handed him the keys to a new car which has a special registration number of “PAK 92.97” to commemorate Nadeem’s throw of 92.97 meters at Paris, which was an Olympic record. Nadeem’s coach Salman Iqbal Butt was also given $18,000.

“You have doubled the delight of 250 million Pakistanis because we’ll also celebrate our Independence Day tomorrow,” Sharif said while announcing the money for Nadeem, whose father is a daily wage laborer. “Today every Pakistani is happy and the morale of the whole country is sky high.”

WRESTLING: Vinesh Phogat is still waiting. A decision on the Indian wrestler’s appeal for a shared silver medal after she was disqualified from an Olympic final for missing weight has been postponed a second time and won’t come until Friday, the Wrestling Federation of India said.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport – sport’s highest court – said a judge in Paris held a hearing last Friday regarding Phogat’s case against United World Wrestling and the International Olympic Committee. The CAS originally said a decision was expected by the end of the Olympics on Sunday, but the CAS granted arbitrator Annabelle Bennett more time, citing “exceptional circumstances,” and pushed the deadline for a decision to Tuesday.