Jimmer Fredette is ending his (brief) retirement to return to 3×3 basketball

SALT LAKE CITY — Jimmer Fredette is back.

The former BYU men’s basketball star and national player of the year announced Tuesday that he was coming out of retirement to play for USA Basketball 3×3 national team ahead of a handful of tournaments this weekend, according to an official announcement from USA Basketball on social media.

“I’m back,” Fredette said in a short video posted online Tuesday morning with him rolling out a basketball in USA warm-up gear.

Jimmer. Is. Back.

2x USA Basketball 3×3 gold medalist @jimmerfredette is returning to play competitive 3×3! pic.twitter.com/BrqOqz4cH8

— USA Basketball 3×3 (@usab3x3) September 15, 2026

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press clarified that Fredette, who turned 37 this year, is stepping down as managing director of USA Basketball’s 3×3 men’s team to return to playing. The FIBA 3×4 Phoenix Challenge begins Saturday, an official qualifier of the Macau Masters.

By ending his retirement, Fredette could also make himself eligible to be selected to USA Basketballs’ 3×3 team for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Fredette told the Associated Press in a phone interview that the idea of coming out of retire first started “between three and four months ago,” after he had “no inclination” of giving up his life as a full-time father of three and youth basketball coach to return to competitive play.

“I won’t lie to you and say that there’s not a little bit of a feeling of unfinished business,” Fredette told the AP. “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,” he added. “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 former BYU guard averaged 25.6 points per game over his final two seasons of college basketball, earning Naismith player of the year in 2011 before being selected with the No. 10 overall pick in the NBA draft. He spent six seasons in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, New yOrk Knicks and Phoenix Suns before heading to play overseas in China and Greece and winning a Greek League championship with Panathinaikos in 2020.

After a brief return to China’s Shanghai Sharks, Fredette made his 3×3 debut in 2022 and helped the American team to the gold medal at the 2022 FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup alongside teammates Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis.

That helped earn a spot on the Olympic squad for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, but an adductor injury in the second game of pool play cut his Olympic tenure short and Team USA finished with a 2-5 record.

A year later in April, Fredette announced his retirement from competitive basketball, took a job as managing director of USA Basketball’s 3×3 men’s national team, and had his iconic No. 32 BYU jersey retired during an emotional halftime ceremony in February in Provo.

“I’m glad they waited 15 years, honestly,” Fredette said of the moment, when he was surrounded by his wife Whitney and family. “Now I get to have my three kids here, and to be able to have that experience with my family left me pretty speechless, honestly.”