Jimmer Fredette has decided to resume his playing career, a decision that means he is stepping down as the managing director of USA Basketball's men's 3x3 program and will return to the court for the first time in more than two years.
Fredette and USA Basketball made the announcement Tuesday. The 37-year-old Fredette, who held the managing director job for about 18 months and intended to guide the program through at least the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, is expected to play this weekend in a FIBA 3x3 tournament in Phoenix.
Fredette said he's all-in on his comeback, which would indicate that playing in those 2028 Olympics is in his plans.
“It was somewhere between three and four months ago when I really started to kind of think about it,” Fredette told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I had no inclination to come back. I felt great being home. It was awesome. I had the kids, the family, everything’s going great, enjoying my time as a full-time dad and coach and doing my other things, and it was good. And then over the last few months, I just kind of had playing creep into my mind.”
Fredette retired from playing — or so he thought — in April 2025. That was nine months after he entered the Paris Olympics as the top-ranked 3x3 men’s player in the world, leading a U.S. team that figured to be a serious medal contender.
But the native of Glens Falls, New York, suffered an adductor muscle injury early in the tournament and the U.S. by rule could not replace him on its four-man roster for the Paris Games, so the Americans had to play the rest of the Olympics with three players and no substitutes. The U.S. lost five of its seven games in Paris and finished seventh.
“I won’t lie to you and say that there’s not a little bit of a feeling of unfinished business,” Fredette said. “But I think generally it’s more of me thinking I can still play. There’s a lot of time between now and the Olympics. And so, that’s not even something that I’m actually focusing on at this point. It’s more of I just want to go back out into a tournament, one tournament, and just see how I play and see how I feel and then go to the next tournament and see if I can get back to the form to where I was.
“There's a lot of things that can happen before now and the Olympics. I’m not saying that me coming back is going to be a fairytale ending because you absolutely never know — and most of the time in sports, it’s not that way. This is more about me just being able to compete again because I feel like I can, and I feel like if I don’t at least give myself that opportunity then I’ll have some regrets.”
The U.S., as the Olympic host, is already qualified for the 2028 Games.
Fredette was the 2011 AP men’s college basketball player of the year after averaging a nation-leading 28.9 points per game as a senior at BYU, became an NBA lottery pick, spent parts of six seasons in the NBA, played internationally in Europe and Asia and twice scored at least 70 points in games while in China.
He then got talked into trying 3x3, went to the Olympics, and now might be headed there again.
Fredette had the conversation with his wife, Whitney, a few months ago when he thought about playing. She told him that she had been waiting for such a talk — and that she always suspected he would go back.
“Once I got her approval and support, then I felt good about it,” Fredette said. “That's when I felt like I can go all in on this again and try to be able to come back. And now, we'll see what happens.”
He insists it was not an easy decision to leave his job at USA Basketball and didn't want to put the national federation in a tough spot. USA Basketball officials ultimately assured him that if he wanted to play, he should.
“USA Basketball is grateful for the extensive time Jimmer gave to our 3x3 men’s program as Managing Director,” said Jay Demings, USA Basketball 3x3 national team director. “We are excited to have Jimmer return as a player on Team Miami, a team he is a founding member of, at the FIBA 3x3 Phoenix Challenger.”
Fredette's spot in the federation office is not being filled immediately. USA Basketball's board of directors has asked the federation's 3x3 National Team Committee to “fill the role of identifying coaching staffs and players for major international competitions at the senior and junior levels through 2028.”
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FILE - Jimmer Fredette spins a basketball during practice for the USA Basketball 3x3 national team, Oct. 31, 2022, in Miami Lakes, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Bo Nix called Denver's bludgeoning at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs “a nasty wakeup call” for a Broncos team with Super Bowl aspirations. Sean Payton called it a “slap in the face.”
Now, the trick is to make sure their 31-10 loss at Kansas City is an aberration and not an omen.
"You've got to learn from it, you've got to flush it as soon as possible after our meeting today and move on to the next opponent,” offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said Tuesday. “We still have those (championship) aspirations and one game doesn't define our season or who we are and we've just got to learn how to get better from it."
Possibly the most disconcerting part about their dismal showing Monday night wasn't that newcomer Jaylen Waddle was limited to a single catch for 2 yards or that Nix fumbled three times or even that new play-caller Davis Webb had a dud of a debut.
It's that one of the league's best defenses missed 28 tackles at Arrowhead Stadium, where Kenneth Walker III ran roughshod over the Broncos for 173 yards.
That included 144 yards after contact as Denver's 29.8% missed tackle rate was the third-worst in an NFL game since 2018, and their 247 missed tackle yards allowed were the most by any defense in that same span, according to Next Gen Stats.
“It's very correctable," said lineman Zach Allen, one of only two Denver defensive starters who didn't miss a tackle. “So, that's the good news. Yeah, it's definitely going to be a point of emphasis in practice this week.
"Knowing the guys we got in this group, it'll get addressed, it'll get fixed. So, yeah, shouldn't be a problem anymore.”
The offense had its own dismal showing as Nix fumbled three times, got sacked on his first snap and intercepted on his first pass. The Broncos converted just twice in a dozen third-down opportunities and couldn't sustain drives even before the game got out of hand.
“If you don’t play good against a really good team, they’re going to beat you pretty good,” said Nix.
It's harder to flush such an ugly game out of one's system, too, suggested coach Sean Payton.
“It’s one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like you played well,” Payton said. “I don’t feel like we played up to our standard and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. And so, yeah, it’s disappointing.
“I know it's a shorter week, but there's no way we can get past today without looking at the tape and looking at the things that we have to improve on before we even play the next opponent."
TE Evan Engram caught Denver's only touchdown pass, equaling his TD total from last season. Engram played alongside Webb with the New York Giants, so their chemistry goes way back.
Denver's defense. It's back to the basics for a unit that's been Denver's calling card for decades. This was its worst showing since Vance Joseph's group allowed 70 points to Miami in 2023.
Allen and Nik Bonitto are the only Denver front-line defenders who didn't miss a tackle. Allen also had one of Denver's two sacks.
Nix was nowhere near himself in his return from a broken right ankle and Davis was unbalanced in his play calls even when the game was close, calling just a handful of runs before halftime.
PR Marvin Mims left briefly with a hip injury but returned.
2. Sacks by a team that racked up 131 sacks the last two seasons. “When you think about it, No. 1, Patrick (Mahomes) is super smart. The ball is coming out with some quick screens ...," Payton said. "They were not just going to sit there with him in the pocket on seven-step drops, understandably so. They had a good plan. The ball was coming out fast.”
Following their biggest loss since a 31-7 blowout at Buffalo in the 2024 playoffs, the Broncos host the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0), who walloped them 34-20 last year in Colorado to snap Denver's 11-game winning streak.
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Denver Broncos defensive end Zach Allen looks on prior to an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throws a pass against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Denver Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) is brought down by Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'jarius Sneed (38) after catching a pass during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) is pushed out of bounds by Denver Broncos cornerback Riley Moss (21) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
