The tension was thick inside the Team USA locker room. Diana Taurasi, the legend chasing her sixth Olympic gold at age 43, watched her teammates celebrate. She’d just lived through a twist no one expected: a Paris final where she never left the bench. With a win nearly slipping away and everything on the line, coach Cheryl Reeve made the decision that set off debates and left Taurasi searching for answers.
Why Did Cheryl Reeve Leave Diana Taurasi on the Bench in 2024 Olympic Final?
Being the head coach of Team USA Basketball is a brutal challenge. You’re not just chasing gold; you have to figure out the right rotation every night and make sure some of the biggest stars in the world keep their egos in check. It’s a thankless gig at best, and one mistake is all it takes to create controversy that lives forever. Reeve, who led the Minnesota Lynx before taking charge of Team USA, stepped right into that fire in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s final.
Leading up to the game against France, Taurasi’s minutes had already been limited. But in the gold medal showdown, Reeve left the veteran on the bench the entire contest, even as Team USA hung on for a wild 67-66 win. The Americans struggled offensively, with both teams shooting under 34% from the floor, and every late-game possession felt like life or death. Reeve later explained, “There was every intention of playing Diana Taurasi,” but said the team ended up in “survival mode” by the third quarter, down by 10 points. “Those were the decisions that we made that we felt like were the best decisions to get us to the place to win the game.”
MORE: “I DESERVED TO BE ON THE TEAM,” SAID DIANA TAURASI
The move paid off with gold, marking Taurasi’s sixth and the country’s eighth in a row, but it also blindsided one of the sport’s most iconic players. Taurasi opened up about what happened in her Amazon Prime docuseries “Taurasi,” admitting she was confused and hurt by the lack of communication. “I’m confused by what happened. I never got ‘hey, you’re not going to play because we’re going this direction.’ Sounds good, I can live with that. But I didn’t get that.”
Reeve attempted to offer her side during an appearance on “In Case You Missed It” with Khristina Williams, referencing the fact that coaching rosters packed with talent mean someone is always unhappy. “It is the hardest coaching job that there is, in that whether it’s Steve Kerr on the men’s national team, and whether it’s Cheryl Reeve on the women’s national team, you’re going to piss a lot of people off because there’s a lot of great players that aren’t playing like they want to play. They’re great players for their team, they’re great players in the league. Not everybody can be a great player in the national team.”
Cheryl Reeve opens up on the real reason Diana Taurasi didn’t play in the Olympic gold medal game and why the decision came down to the heat of the moment.
Full episode out now: https://t.co/8mTyxegLxP pic.twitter.com/TRfg8V07Uk
— In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams (@ICYMIwithKW) August 15, 2025
Reeve even pointed to examples from the men’s team, like Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards coming off the bench, or Tyrese Haliburton not playing at all, despite their NBA stardom. Joel Embiid played limited minutes in their own final, while Stephen Curry carried the scoring load. Star-laden rosters will always force these kinds of hard choices.
The bigger question is whether communication with Taurasi could have been handled differently. Many believe a player with her resume deserved at least a heads-up, especially with such an iconic career moment on the line. Maybe, in hindsight, Reeve wishes she had pulled her aside for a direct conversation.
In the end, the only thing that mattered was the gold medal. Team USA extended its streak, and Taurasi added another medal to a legendary career. What happened behind the scenes, though, will keep fans and players talking long after Paris.
