Jimmer Fredette‘s bid to play in the 2024 Paris Olympics received a boost as he was named to the U.S. roster for the biggest 3x3 basketball tournament before the Games, the World Cup that runs from May 30-June 4 in Vienna.
Fredette, the 2011 NCAA Player of the Year for BYU, is joined on the team by Canyon Barry and Kareem Maddox, both 2019 World champions, and Dylan Travis.
The U.S. women’s team is made up of current NCAA standouts Cameron Brink (Stanford) and Hailey Van Lith (LSU transfer from Louisville), plus former WNBA players Cierra Burdick and Linnae Harper.
While the World Cup does not offer direct Olympic qualification, it will factor significantly into world rankings that in November will determine the first three nations to earn spots in the Olympic men’s and women’s tournaments.
If the U.S. qualifies for Paris, a committee will choose the team(s).
The 3x3 event made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. A U.S. women’s team of WNBA standouts took gold. The U.S. men did not qualify for the Olympics despite being reigning world champions.
Fredette, 34, made his national team 3x3 debut at last November’s AmeriCup. Before that, he played parts of six NBA seasons and four more with the Shanghai Sharks, the last in 2020-21.
“Team USA asked me to come and see if it’s [3x3] something I may be interested in, maybe looking to qualify for an Olympic run in the 2024 Olympics,” he said last October, according to the the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star newspaper in his hometown.
U.S. men’s and women’s teams lost in the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup.
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