Jimmer Fredette, the 2011 NCAA Player of the Year for BYU, will make his U.S. national basketball team debut in 3x3 with the 2024 Paris Games on his mind.
Fredette, a 33-year-old who played in China until last year after his last NBA game in 2019, reportedly said he’s “working for” the Paris Games.
“Team USA asked me to come and see if it’s something I may be interested in, maybe looking to qualify for an Olympic run in the 2024 Olympics,” he said, according to the the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star newspaper in his hometown.
Those comments were published before Fredette was named to the U.S. 3x3 team for next week’s AmeriCup in Miami, a tournament for North and South American teams.
Fredette is joined on the team by Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis. Maddox was on the U.S. team that failed to qualify for 3x3’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, two years after the Americans won the world title in the event.
Should the U.S. qualify for the Paris Olympics, the four-man team is expected to be chosen by a committee in 2024. Come the Paris Games, Fredette will be older than all but one previous U.S. Olympic men’s basketball player -- Larry Bird in 1992.
The U.S. women’s AmeriCup team is Veronica Burton, Lexie Hull, NaLyssa Smith and Camille Zimmerman. In Tokyo, the U.S. took gold with Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.
U.S. men’s and women’s teams lost in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in June.
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