Why is USA Basketball sending 4 non-NBA 30-somethings to the Olympics?
On Team USA's weird decision-making around Olympic men's 3x3 basketball.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Senecio; Paul Klee; 1922
USA Basketball and its athletes do not care about the men’s 3x3 Olympic tournament, apparently.
No offense to Jimmer Fredette or Canyon Barry, of course. Those are two of the four players on the recently announced squad for the 2024 Olympics. The other two: Kareem Maddox, who averaged 8 and 4 at Princeton before becoming a career 3x3 player; and Dylan Travis, who played at Florida Southern before becoming a career 3x3 player.
Jimmer, of course, was a lottery pick who flamed out of the NBA shortly after his rookie deal ended and starred in Greece and China. He’s now a career 3x3 guy. Canyon is the son of Rick Barry, a former SEC Sixth Man of the Year who averaged 9 points per game over three G League seasons. He’s a career 3x3 guy now, too.
It’s just kind of weird to me that there aren’t a handful of NBA players below the senior men’s team level who want to do this. It’s just kind of weird to me that USA Basketball doesn’t want to send some more accomplished athletes to represent the country’s basketball talent.
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