VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Stop worrying about who didn’t play in the latest Team USA men’s basketball game for a moment.

I beg you. It’s becoming an obsession of sorts among fans and media alike, one that is overshadowing the fact that this loaded team which faces such great expectations is actually living up to the extraordinary hype.

Yet because Jayson Tatum didn’t play in a one-sided win against Serbia, and Joel Embiid sat in the Americans’ 103-86 rout of South Sudan on Wednesday, those choices from American coach Steve Kerr are suddenly seen as some sort of indictment on that player’s place in the basketball universe. Throw Steph Curry in there while you’re at it, as his shooting struggles have — partly by my doing, admittedly — become a subplot here as well.

As Kerr pleaded afterward while speaking to reporters, in between the questions about why he started Anthony Davis over Embiid and Tatum over Jrue Holiday, everyone needs to stop looking at every personnel decision through the prism of that player’s NBA status. There’s a gold medal on the line, meaning roles on this team will not necessarily reflect the type of job description that each player holds in their full-time basketball employment. And as Kerr has made clear both publicly and privately, he’s ready and willing to shuffle these cards like a dealer at the nearby Casino Barrière where so many locals go to try their luck.

And guess what? He’s on a roll right now. Especially after stumbling on a sensational second unit that absolutely dominated against the South Sudan squad that Kerr called “the fastest in the tournament.”

Kevin Durant. Anthony Edwards. Jrue Holiday. Derrick White. Bam Adebayo.

Before we get into all the details and the numbers — and they were quite remarkable — just look at those names and think about what it must feel like to be an opposing player who is trying to put the ball in the basket against that group of elite defensive talents. Demoralizing. Terrifying. Exhausting. And by the way, that group of five players also accounted for 60 of Team USA’s 66 bench points.

For the American players who ran together for the first time in this team’s journey late in the first quarter, then took over the third after South Sudan cut the Americans’ lead to 10 and pushed it to 16 entering the fourth, there was one particular word that they all used to describe it: Fun.

Let’s hear from the participants, and be sure to take note of their eye-popping data along the way. As a bit of relevant context, four of the five Team USA starters (Curry, LeBron James, Tatum and Davis) were on the wrong side of the plus-minus ledger (Devin Booker, who was a plus-9, was the lone exception). This group, make no mistake, won the game.

Kevin Durant

In his second consecutive game coming off the bench after being out with a calf injury that kept him out of training camp and all five exhibition games, the Phoenix Suns star had 14 points, three assists, three steals and a plus-26 mark in nearly 22 minutes. As Kerr shared afterward, Durant’s role as Sixth Man will continue going forward. Kerr said he plans to start Curry, Booker, Holiday, James and Embiid against Puerto Rico on Saturday.

“Yeah, that lineup was incredible (smiles). You know, when you can switch a lot of different things, and keep the ball in front of you, don’t worry about over helping at all. We’re just (out there) talking to each other. There were some high IQ defensive players out there.

“When you can throw that lineup out there, it’s fun. That’s when you don’t have to run offense, when you can get stops and go and play in transition. And that’s basketball to me.”

As a brief sidenote, Durant surely felt vindicated by that last point. After all, he spent a fair amount of his Monday afternoon making this very argument in a back-and-forth online debate with fans about the best way to play the game.

“We’ve got to be ready for anything (with Team USA), you know? Coach has been showing that he’s gonna mix the lineups up the whole time, so guys are just staying ready and just waiting for the opportunity. I love what coach is doing, with just trying to mix and match the lineup to match who we’re playing.”

Anthony Edwards

The 22-year-old Minnesota Timberwolves star is clearly determined to be known as one of the best two-way players in the game. Those skills were on full display against South Sudan, as he finished with 13 points, three steals and a plus-18 mark in 17 minutes.

“Yeah (it was fun) — hell yeah. I mean, we’ve got three great defenders – four, actually, with Bam. He switches one through five, and he can sit down and guard, so we’ve got four great defenders and then KD is super long. So all we’ve got to do is be long and disrupt them and we’ll figure everything else out. So I think we made the lineup look pretty good today.

“You know, Derrick White surprised me a lot. I mean, I watched him a lot in the playoffs (during the Boston Celtics’ title run) but I didn’t know his instincts on defense were that good. It’s super good. His hands, the way he thinks on defense. He’s really good. But I think the best thing about it was looking to my left and seeing KD — my favorite player. Yeah, that’s the great thing about it.”

So, I asked Edwards, does that mean he’d prefer Durant continue as a super sub so their mutual admiration society can continue on the court?

“I love that he’s coming off the bench. I get to play with him, so I hope coach keeps bringing him off the bench (laughs). I get to pass it to him. He gets to pass it back. That’s probably one of my biggest dreams ever, so that’s dope. …We’ve got a great group of 12 guys. So it doesn’t matter who’s playing. It doesn’t matter who’s starting. It doesn’t matter who’s finishing the game. We’re coming in, and we’re still gonna try to figure out a way to win.”

Bam Adebayo

The Miami Heat big man had his best performance of the games, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds and a plus-22 mark in nearly 21 minutes of play. 

“I think being able to switch one through five, being able to guard all positions makes me that much (more) versatile, (and) being able to space the floor. And obviously, you know, doing the in-between things like being the point center, it just gives us a more diverse team. …You know, I feel like (Kerr) looks at the bench as that spark, to come off the bench and really give us a boost. And we did that tonight.”

Jrue Holiday

The Boston Celtics guard finished with five points and a plus-9 mark in 15 minutes.

“Yeah, I think we kind of pushed the lead back up (in the third) and we were playing well together, so (Kerr) left us out there. It was pretty fun. A lineup like that is big-time.”

Derrick White

The Boston Celtics guard finished with 10 points, three steals, and a plus-18 mark in 17 minutes,

“I mean playing with Jrue Holiday (on the Celtics) has been a blessing every day. Obviously Bam is one of the best bigs defending one through five, KD with his length is a problem, and Ant is special too, so it’s a fun group to play with.”

Steve Kerr

The last word goes to the head coach, who would surely love nothing more than for the hand-wringing about his decisions to cease so long as the Americans keep winning until the end.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s the beauty of USA Basketball, (is that) we have more great players than the other country,” he said when asked about the bench production. “Other countries have some of the best players in the world. That’s how the game has grown. But we have more great players, and that’s our strength. So our strength is that we can lean on all those great players, depending on matchups, depending on how we want to play, who we’re playing. And every single guy is capable of coming out and taking over a game.,

“This (tournament) goes so quickly — we only have four games left. So I think keeping everybody engaged, looking at some different combinations, and everything kind of matters to us. And now we have a tape to look at some of those different lineup combos, and we’ll go from there.”

(Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP via Getty Images)