Jimmer Fredette rises again as 2024 Olympics give him another shot at glory

Two summers ago, USA Basketball sent an old college coach to try to reel in a big-name recruit.

Fran Fraschilla journeyed to Denver in hopes of persuading Jimmer Fredette to leave traditional 5-on-5 basketball behind and to reinvent himself as the world’s most famous 3×3 player.

Since 3×3 players are required to accumulate points on the world tour in order to be eligible to play for their countries in the Olympics, USA Basketball could not simply select LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and be done with it. It had to scramble to find players passed on by NBA and top-tier overseas clubs yet talented enough to challenge for a medal.

Fredette by then was in the twilight of his well-chronicled journey from BYU folk hero, to NBA flop, to basketball nomad. He had yo-yoed between the G League, Greece and China for five years before declining lucrative offers in order to take a year-long break from professional basketball and devote more time to his wife and three young children.

Over cheeseburgers and iced teas in June 2022, Fraschilla asked the then 33-year-old Fredette to bring Jimmermania to 3×3 basketball. Fraschilla told Fredette that 3×3 had made its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, that Team USA had failed to qualify and that Fredette could lead the push to right that wrong if he was willing to be away from his family for six to eight weekends the following year.

“My brain is always calculating who might be good at the sport,” Fraschilla, a senior advisor to USA Basketball, told Yahoo Sports. “I knew he still had game and I knew he was competitive, so I just took a shot.”

To Fredette, 3×3 basketball was faintly reminiscent of the half-court pickup games he played as a kid, only faster, bruisingly physical and more strategic. The winning team was the first to 21 or whoever led after a single 10-minute period. Baskets were worth two points from behind the arc or one point from inside it.

Fraschilla’s pitch intrigued Fredette because 3×3 provided the competitive outlet he craved and a schedule that afforded him year-round family time. It also helped that Fredette is a lifelong Olympics junkie who…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-07-29 07:08:13

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