Fredette, BYU excellent to 2024 Olympian, retires
Apr 23, 2025, 01:00 PM ET
Jimmer Fredette, a college basketball star at BYU who went on to end up being an NBA lottery game choice and after that bet the U.S. in 3×3 basketball at last year’s Paris Olympics, announced his retirement Wednesday.
“Basketball has actually taken me all around this world: from Glens Falls NY, to BYU, the NBA, China, Greece, and even Group U.S.A. at the Olympics!” Fredette wrote in a social networks post. “This game and my love for it has actually formed me into the individual I am today and for that I am permanently grateful. Numerous memories and amazing minutes. It wasn’t always easy, but it was constantly worth it! The next journey begins now.”
At BYU, Fredette led the nation with 28.9 points per game in 2010-11 and won consensus nationwide player of the year honors while leading the Cougars to their very first Sweet 16 look in 30 years.Fredette, 36, was the
No. 10 pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2011 draft before being traded to the Sacramento Kings. He invested parts of six seasons in the NBA with Sacramento, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City and Phoenix.He likewise played expertly in China and Greece, winning the MVP award in the Chinese Basketball Association in 2017. Fredette had games of 70 and 75 points in China, including one where he scored 60 points after halftime.The finest years of his playing career may have been his last ones, when he turned his attention to 3×3. Fredette was a star in that busy, half-court game for the U.S., helping the Americans win gold medals at the 2022 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup and 2023 Pan American Games along with a silver at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He was U.S.A. Basketball’s 3×3 male athlete of the year in 2023. He went into the Paris Olympics as the top-ranked 3×3 guys’s player in the world, with the Americans ranked No. 2 worldwide.
But Fredette suffered an adductor muscle injury early in the competition, and the U.S. by guideline could not change him on its four-man roster for the Paris Games, so the Americans needed to play the remainder of the Olympics with three players and no alternatives.”I owe a great deal of who I am today to this game and it’s difficult to say goodbye as a player,” Fredette composed.
“But the time has actually come. “The Associated Press contributed to this report.