USA’s Jimmer Fredette: from college basketball comet to Olympic 3×3 hopeful

Jimmer Fredette was a comet in college, winning National Player of the Year in 2011 and leading the NCAA scorer as a senior for BYU. He impressed in the NCAA tournamentwhere he often played one-on-five games and was compared to Stephen Curry for his sharp shooting.

But Fredette’s pro career didn’t pan out the way he and his many fans had hoped. Instead of becoming a multiple NBA All-Star like Curry, he struggled to find his feet after being picked 10th overall in 2011, playing two and a half seasons with Sacramento and then bouncing around the league before stints in Greece and China. But the 35-year-old has found a new calling as the face of the U.S. 3×3 basketball team. He’ll make his Olympic debut when the Americans open their campaign against Germany on Tuesday.

We spoke to Fredette about 3×3 and his expectations as a budding Olympian.

How does it feel to be one of the faces of the 2024 Olympic 3×3 tournament?

Ha! You know, it’s just an honor to be able to play for Team USA. When we all got that call to play, it was a special moment, something you dream about as a kid. But in basketball, it’s such a unique experience because it’s usually the top 12 NBA players in the United States that go to the Olympics. That’s what you see growing up – the Dream Team and the Redeem Team. So when 3×3 came about, it was a realistic opportunity for me to be able to play. So I dove right in and now to be able to play the Olympics in Paris, which is obviously one of the coolest cities in the world – there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it.

What would you like to say about your American teammates?

Kareem Maddox is the first one I’m going to start with. He’s been playing 3×3 the longest. He’s been on a lot of the American teams, the World Cups, and a lot of these different international tournaments. He’s playing [3×3] about eight years. He played at Princeton – he’s a very good player at a high level, Defensive Player of the Year in the Ivy League. He went overseas for four or five years and then decided to play 3×3. So, he’s a great addition.

Canyon Barry is another one. He is [basketball hall of famer] Rick Barry’s son. He’s 6-foot-1, athletic. He’s been playing 3×3 for about five years … He shoots the underhand free throw just like his father. He does it all the time, which is awesome. Just a great guy, great player. And then Dylan Travis, who is a Division II All-American and a national champion. He played overseas in Germany and then Australia for several years and then he decided to play 3×3 basketball. So, he’s been playing for about four years as well. So, I’m the newbie [Fredette has been playing 3×3 seriously for two years] compared to these guys who are more experienced and have been playing for a long time. But Dylan is the heart and soul of our team. He’s a glue guy who scores when you need him, takes charge when you need him, gets every loose ball, rebounds and just plays hard. Together we have a great group.

Can you tell us more about the adaptation to 3×3? Did you enjoy the process?

It took me a while to adjust. It probably took about six months before I felt comfortable on the field with the way the plays are happening. There are a lot of different plays that teams do against you offensively that you don’t see in five-on-five because you have more space and there’s just a lot of little [differences]. And the 12-second shot clock obviously took me a while to get used to. It’s a very fast game. More physical, they make you be more physical. So you have to train a little bit differently in the off-season. You have to do a little bit more weightlifting, a little bit more wrestling or MMA type training to get out of it, because it’s physical. Then you go sprinting and then you go physical again. So that type of training took me a while.

Was 3×3 popular during college and NBA practices?

It’s definitely getting a lot bigger now in the NBA, colleges, because they see how they move the ball and the different little tricky plays that they have. They think, we can implement some of these things into five-on-five. So you’re starting to see it more now. But I used to play 3×3 basketball when I was younger. In the US, they have… all these 3×3 tournaments that they play outside or just on the streets. And I played all of them with my friends and I loved it. It’s a little bit of a different kind of basketball, obviously, but playing outside 3×3 is where I started playing basketball and now it’s kind of cool to have that full circle.

What are your goals for Paris 2024?

In 2021 the [US] men, unfortunately, didn’t even qualify for the Olympics. So, right after [US officials said] we can’t do that. They wanted to make sure they put more resources into it… I feel like we’re getting better and better. Last year we took silver at the world championships to Serbia… I had a chance to win it and it went wrong and they won it in the end.

So, it’s obviously something that we want to hopefully avenge at the Olympics in Paris. But it’s not just Serbia. There are eight really good teams at the Olympics. It’s going to be really tough. When you watch it, it’s really nerve-wracking. It’s such a fast game. It’s [the first team to] 21 [points]right? Or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. So if a team gets hot and they start hitting deuces, it can be over pretty quick. So there’s a lot of variation. It’s not like a team wins every time, no matter what. In the NBA seven-game series, the better team usually wins. Whereas here, it’s like the [single elimination] NCAA tournament. You never know what’s going to happen. So you just have to be prepared and ready for any situation.

Do you have any plans after the Olympics? It doesn’t sound like the NBA is in your plans.

It’s a great question, honestly. I’m not 100% sure yet. I’m focused on the Olympics. And then after that, anything goes for me, to be honest. If an opportunity comes along that I think is great for me and my family, great. If not, I’m sure the Olympics could be a great swan song too. So it could go either way for me at the moment. I don’t know, honestly.

What do you like most about where you are now as a basketball player?

For me, it’s been a long, great journey. I’ve been through a lot of great things. Some things were hard for me during my career, which was great. It’s made me the person and the player that I am today. But I feel like I’m having as much fun playing basketball now as I’ve ever had. And I think that’s something that I always measure by how I feel and how much I enjoy the game with the situation that I’m in. So it gives me new life to go practice and get better and want to get better at all of these things, which is super important. I’m still not the best in the world at this, so I want to keep working until I am. So I’m excited about it. It’s been a really, really fun and unique experience and something that I’m definitely enjoying right now. And I feel like I’m in as good shape and as good a basketball player as I’ve ever been.