USA Basketball's 3x3 Men's Team Arrives in Paris Looking for Gold

This story seems in SLAM Presents USA Basketball. Store now.

Let’s take it again to the place it began. Earlier than you discovered to play in a full-court setting, you needed to get comfy navigating the half-court. It’s the essence of basketball. From fast pickup video games at well-known courts like Rucker Park to the shell drill that each formidable basketball crew practices, 3×3 basketball is the muse of the high-flying, up-and-down 5×5 recreation we’ve grown to like.

For the second time in Olympic historical past, 3×3 basketball will likely be in full swing as nations compete for a medal, and for the primary time in Olympic historical past, USA Basketball can have a crew competing on the boys’s facet.

After successful Gold on the 2023 Pan Am Video games and making themselves identified on the FIBA 3×3 World Tour circuit, the U.S. 3×3 Males’s Nationwide Workforce routinely certified for a spot at this yr’s Paris Video games, getting into the sphere because the No.2 seed.

The four-player squad assembled has been taking part in collectively for a couple of years now, and that chemistry will likely be important for any success they’re hoping to realize. However whereas chemistry and togetherness are keys to Gold, the squad will nonetheless want some sturdy particular person performances. Let’s meet the boys who make up the primary USA 3×3 Males’s Olympic Workforce in USA Basketball historical past.

There’s no person higher to signify the USA in 3×3 basketball than Jimmer Fredette, one of many nation’s most excellent school basketball gamers of all time. He’s a star. He’s field workplace, and if he’s in your crew, you at all times have a shot at successful. Only a few can compete with Jimmer in terms of placing the ball within the basket. He can catch hearth like no different, and his potential to get buckets in bunches will show precious in Paris. Identify a BYU or Mountain West Convention scoring/capturing file, and there’s an excellent probability Jimmer holds it.

The previous NCAA main scorer and Participant of the 12 months is aware of that nothing comes simply, though his pure knack for scoring would possibly lead you to assume in any other case. Jimmer took the faculty basketball world by storm when he went on his outstanding particular person run at BYU again in 2011. He’ll look to provoke the nation once more—this time in pursuit of an Olympic Gold medal and the primary in U.S. males’s 3×3 historical past. Jimmer has earned two Gold medals and one Silver medal in his 3×3 FIBA profession, which started in late 2022. This time round, one may argue the stakes are larger than they’ve ever been. If there’s something it’s good to find out about Jimmer, know this: Should you want a bucket, all it’s important to do is say the phrase, and it’ll get finished.

“Protection wins championships.” It’s probably the most used adages within the historical past of crew sports activities. As basketball continues to lean increasingly in favor of offense, having a lockdown defender at your disposal who can offset offensive firepower is as pivotal as ever. That’s what Kareem Maddox brings to USA Basketball’s 3×3 Males’s Nationwide Workforce this summer season. The Princeton alum and former Ivy League Defensive Participant of the 12 months and All-Ivy League first-team choice (2011) is the squad’s anchor. Alongside together with his defensive prowess, Maddox is a succesful scorer with years {of professional} 3×3 expertise, courting again to 2018 when he earned MVP on the USA Basketball 3×3 Nationwide Championship. Since then, he’s earned 5 Gold medals and one Silver throughout his FIBA 3×3 profession.

It’s very laborious—virtually not possible—to win a Gold medal in 3×3 basketball with out no less than one sharpshooter on the crew. Fortunately for USA Basketball, capturing is Canyon Barry’s specialty. The 6-6, 215-pound guard is the son of Corridor of Famer Rick Barry and is doing his half to hold on the Barry basketball custom: successful. The youthful Barry was a 1000-point scorer in school and averaged 20 factors as a junior for Charleston earlier than an damage lower his season brief. He transferred to Florida the next season, the place he earned 2017 SEC Sixth Man of the 12 months honors. Canyon is a gentle guard who additionally brings expertise to the desk and a handful of {hardware} to point out for it. He has 4 Gold medals and one Silver medal in FIBA 3×3 competitors and earned the 2022 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup MVP. If this yr’s 3×3 Males’s Nationwide Workforce has any probability of securing the Gold in Paris, Canyon goes to need to faucet into the bag he was in when he helped lead the Florida Gators to the Elite Eight in 2017. And primarily based on the sturdy performances he’s had on the FIBA 3×3 circuit, there’s no motive to doubt he’ll be prepared for the second when it comes.

The final member of the group is Dylan Travis, a graduate of Florida Southern School. Travis is the one participant on the three×3 Males’s Nationwide Workforce who didn’t play on the Division I degree, however any actual hooper or hoops fan is aware of the way it goes—the most effective Division II gamers within the nation can compete at any degree. As a junior in 2015, Travis led his crew to a Division II Nationwide Championship earlier than he performed professionally abroad for a number of season. In 2022, Travis made his USA Basketball 3×3 debut, the place he immediately made his presence felt. He’s a sniper who may get to the cup below stress and trigger suits for defenders. To date in his FIBA profession, he has two Gold medals and one Silver. Up to now…

Because the 2024 Video games are set to start, the U.S. has, for the primary time, certified 4 basketball groups for the Olympics. The most recent crew, the three×3 Males’s squad, will little doubt shine as shiny because the Olympic flame, proper at residence on the courts of Paris.