Former BYU and Shanghai Sharks star Jimmer Fredette will be donning the red, white, and blue this summer. Fredette is a member of the United States Men’s 3×3 team. That team will attempt to win a gold medal in the FIBA 3×3 World Championships. The tournament began on May 30, and a champion will be crowned on June 4.
Fredette is 34 years old, and last played professionally in China during the 2020-21 season. From the highlights though, it appears that the sharpshooter who honed his game playing against inmates at a prison in upstate New York still has enough game left to flummox defenders worldwide.
He joined the Men’s 3×3 team in 2022. In November, the men won the Americup against Puerto Rico. Fredette hit the shot that clinched the victory. Being that the games are played playground style — not in the dog whistle sense, the first team to 21 points wins — traditional basketball stats can’t really quantify his performance. Nor has John Hollinger invented an advanced analytic for this style of play.
The only way to know if Fredette is lighting up opposing defenders is to catch the highlight reels later or watch the livestream of the tournament on YouTube. His next game is at 1:20 p.m. EST when the men take on Slovenia.
It has been 12 years since Fredette and Kawhi Leonard faced off in one of the most highly anticipated regular season Men’s College Basketball games of that decade. The game in which Kawhi Leonard burst onto the national scene by picking up the eventual Player of the Year full court. BYU defeated San Diego State that afternoon, and Fredette did score 25 points while going 4-of–8 from the 3-point line. However, those were the only four shots that he made that afternoon as Leonard held him to 34.8 percent shooting from the field. Fredette also turned the ball over four times in that game.
Fredette’s star burned out once he reached the NBA
He was selected 10th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2011 NBA Draft. He was traded to Sacramento Kings and was a decent player for two seasons and change before being traded again, but he would not be the shooter that would revolutionize the game. That player would be Stephen Curry who was drafted two seasons before him. Fredette’s release isn’t as quick as Curry’s and he also measured two inches shorter than Curry did at the NBA Draft Combine.
It’s good to see him on the court again though, especially in an American uniform. Fredette had a historic college basketball career. He played four years at BYU and won enough awards to fill up a U-Haul.
Go look at the highlights kids. Fredette was a monster. For those of us that remember, we get to experience the nostalgia now, and probably again at the Olympics next summer in Paris.
