Jimmer Fredette & Brandon Davies’ Friendship Remains Strong In EuroLeague
Feb 13, 2020, 8:06 PM
Jimmer Fredette and Brandon Davies during the match between FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos BC, corresponding to the week 13 of the Euroleague, played at the Palau Blaugrana, on 13th December 2019, in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavier Ballart/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(Photo by Xavier Ballart/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Former BYU basketball stars Jimmer Fredette and Brandon Davies were teammates on one of the greatest teams in BYU’s storied history back in 2011. Since the two graduated from Provo, both have remained close friends in their professional basketball careers including where they are now in the EuroLeague.
Fredette currently plays for Panathinaikos in Greece while Davies is thriving with EuroLeague power FC Barcelona. They faced off against one another back on December 13th with Davies and Barcelona getting the upper hand in the first meeting. The two teams will meet again coming up on February 21st.
Brotherhood 🤜🤛
Hear from @jimmerfredette and @Brandon_Davies0 on a friendship that goes WAY back! #GameON pic.twitter.com/pcx7b3oE6u
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) February 13, 2020
“Brandon and I played in college together for a few years and he’s one of my best friends still to this day. He’s a great guy,” said Fredette. “He’s a guy that I still talk to during the summertime, just go back to Utah and go back to our college (BYU) and be able to get some workouts in and hang out with the families. He’s just a great guy, great human being. He’s a guy that has worked really hard to get where he is and he’s kept getting better each and every single year. I’m so proud of him.”
“He’s funnier than people give him credit for,” Davies said on his friendship with Jimmer. “He’s from New York so away from the court you catch a little bit of his accent more in certain situations. He’s a great guy and we have a lot of fun together. We don’t see each other a lot but when we do we always catch up.”
Fredette and Davies played two seasons together at BYU from 2009-2011. The talented duo helped lead BYU to a pair of regular-season Mountain West Conference championships and two seasons over 30 wins.
Both Davies and Fredette faced off against each once in the NBA where both players checked into the game. The matchup took place in 2014 when Jimmer was playing for the Sacramento Kings and Davies was with the Philadelphia 76ers. Fredette played 17 minutes and had 15 points while Davies played nine minutes with zero field goal attempts.
The two then had a brief stint together in The Basketball Tournament on “Team Fredette” in the 2018 TBT where they advanced to the Semifinals of the $2 million winner-take-all tournaments.
Davies is now in his third season in the EuroLeague with Fredette in his first. Last year, Davies was a first-team selection in the league after leading Zalgiris to unprecedented heights. Now they are getting ready to face each other again for the second time in a setting that is considered the next best league to the NBA.
“I’m excited. I’ve always talked to him about playing in the EuroLeague,” Davies said. “In my first year in the EuroLeague [with Zalgiris] he had some questions for me about the league, the different teams, and things like that. We bounced a lot of ideas off of each other and as far as looking forward to the future. Now that we are playing against each other. It’s going to be fun. I’m excited to be on the same court again with him even though it’s against each other.”
“It’s always fun to face a former teammate and joke around a little bit,” Fredette said. “Hopefully I can steal the ball from him or make a shot on him. I have to do something so I have some bragging rights and hopefully, win the game. But it’ll be [a] fun competition.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
