3x3 Basketball 101: U.S. Olympic roster and player news (2024)

After making its Olympic debut three years ago at the Tokyo Games, 3x3 basketball is back for Paris 2024.

The United States has a long track record of dominating 5-on-5 basketball at the Olympics, but the Tokyo Games produced mixed results in 3x3: The women won gold, but the men were unable to even qualify for the competition.

This time around, both teams had little trouble making it into the Olympic field via the world rankings, leaving medal expectations high for both squads in Paris.

Meet the members of the U.S. men's and women's 3x3 basketball teams below.

After missing out on the Tokyo Games, the U.S. will have a men's 3x3 team at the Olympics for the first time. And this team has demonstrated a clear potential to contend for gold.

Newcomers Jimmer Fredette and Dylan Travis linked up with national team veterans Kareem Maddox and Canyon Barry in 2022, and the revamped national team roster immediately won its first tournament together, the FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup.

The quartet, known as Team Miami on the FIBA World Tour circuit, has continued to gel since then. The group earned a silver medal (behind Serbia) at the 2023 World Cup, won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games, and has accrued several World Tour wins. Their results have helped propel the U.S. to the No. 2 spot in the world rankings.

Jimmer Fredette (5), Canyon Barry (6), Kareem Maddox (9) and Dylan Travis (15) will comprise the first-ever U.S. Olympic men's 3x3 basketball team.

USA Basketball

Canyon Barry

Although he comes from a family with a lot of basketball tradition — his father Rick and brother Brent were NBA champions during their playing careers — Canyon will become the first member of the Barry clan to play at the Olympics. The 30-year-old, who spent parts of four seasons with the NBA G League's Iowa Wolves from 2018-22, was part of the U.S. team that won the 3x3 World Cup in 2019. Barry holds a master's degree in nuclear engineering and has been balancing a job as a systems engineer with his Olympic dreams.

Jimmer Fredette

Fredette, 35, is a name familiar to many basketball fans. In 2011, during his season year at BYU, he became one of college basketball's biggest stars thanks to an exciting brand of offense that included elite three-point shooting. Drafted as an NBA lottery pick, Fredette spent parts of six seasons in the league but eventually ended up playing overseas instead. After deciding not to return to China for another professional season, he was given the chance to join the 3x3 national team with a pathway toward the Paris Olympics, and he has been seizing upon it ever since. At the 2023 World Cup, Fredette led all players in scoring with 59 points.

Kareem Maddox

After missing out on the Tokyo Games, Maddox returned for another cycle and will now head to his first Olympics. He led all players in blocked shots (4) and led the U.S. team in rebounds (20) at last year's 3x3 World Cup. He was also part of the roster that won the 2019 World Cup. Prior to his 3x3 career, Maddox played collegiately at Princeton University and spent a few years overseas in professional leagues as well. A former podcast producer and NPR host, the 34-year-old currently works part-time in the Minnesota Timberwolves front office.

Dylan Travis

After a brief professional career overseas, Travis was working as a special education teacher and basketball coach at a high school in Omaha when he got the call from USA Basketball to join the team in 2022. He's since paused his teaching career due to the travel commitments required for 3x3. Travis, now 30, was formerly an NCAA Division II national champion while at Florida Southern.

The U.S. is the defending Olympic gold medalist in women's 3x3 and was always expected to be the favorite in Paris even before the roster was announced.

Now that the team has been selected, those expectations have been solidified. The U.S. will return three of the four players from the group that won the 2023 World Cup but now adds a two-time WNBA All-Star (Rhyne Howard) to the squad.

In all, the team features two current WNBA players (Howard, Cameron Brink), one collegiate star (Hailey Van Lith), and one longtime 3x3 veteran (Cierra Burdick).

Cameron Brink, Cierra Burdick and Hailey Van Lith are the three members of the women's 3x3 Olympic team returning from the 2023 World Cup squad.

USA Basketball

Cameron Brink

Coming off a stellar senior season at Stanford — she earned First-Team All-American and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year honors — Brink was drafted No. 2 overall by the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks in April. At last year's 3x3 World Cup, she led the tournament in blocks (10) and rebounds (39) and was named MVP. The 22-year-old stands at 6-foot-4 and is renowned for her defense.

Cierra Burdick

At age 30, Burdick is the veteran of this squad. Her two 3x3 World Cup titles with the U.S. came nine years apart — the first was in 2014, the latest in 2023. Burdick played collegiately at the University of Tennessee and spent parts of five seasons in the WNBA. At the 2023 World Cup, she pulled in 39 rebounds to tie Brink for the tournament lead.

Rhyne Howard

Howard, who had been in consideration for a spot on the 5-on-5 team, is the newest piece of the 3x3 national team. Drafted No. 1 overall by the WNBA's Atlanta Dream in 2022, Howard has been an All-Star selection in each of her first two seasons in the league. The 24-year-old made her 3x3 debut at a tournament in April and is the only player on this roster who was not part of last year's World Cup.

Hailey Van Lith

Van Lith, 22, will be the first American since 1988 to play basketball at the Olympics during their NCAA career. "HVL," who started her college career at Louisville, is coming off an Elite Eight run with LSU but recently announced a transfer to TCU for her final collegiate season. She led the U.S. team in scoring (44 points) at the 2023 World Cup.

Rhyne Howard played on the 5-on-5 national team as recently as February but will be a member of the 3x3 squad in Paris.

USA Basketball