Chase Budinger playing volleyball; Chase Budinger playing in the NBA. Photo:
Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty; Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty
Former NBA player Chase Budinger is headed to the Summer Olympics for Team USA — but for beach volleyball, not basketball.
Budinger, 36, and his partner Miles Evans secured the final spots on the U.S. beach volleyball team at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, according to The Athletic and Yahoo Sports.
The former pro-hooper and Evans surpassed another American duo, Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb, who were eliminated from the last qualifying tournament on Wednesday, June 5, Yahoo Sports reported.
According to NBC Sports, Budinger will become the first athlete to compete in both Olympic beach volleyball and in the NBA.
Arizona’s Chase Budinger dashes for a loose ball during the Wildcats’ January 17th game against Stanford. Getty Images / Jed Jacobsohn
Budinger, who played basketball and volleyball at La Costa Canyon High School in Encinitas, Calif., was named the National High School Player of the Year by Volleyball Magazine in 2005, according to Yahoo Sports, and won three state titles for his school before pursuing basketball in college.
The outlet reported that Budinger was offered scholarships to play basketball and volleyball for USC and UCLA, but ultimately turned them down to play basketball for the University of Arizona.
According to The Athletic, Budinger was selected to the McDonald’s All-American roster alongside NBA champion Kevin Durant in 2006. Durant, 35, will lead the U.S. men’s basketball team alongside LeBron James and Stephen Curry in Paris.
In 2009, Budinger was drafted into the NBA in the second round by the Detroit Pistons.
Over seven seasons in the league, he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers. He also participated in the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend.
Budinger reportedly played professional basketball in Spain after the NBA, but retired from the sport to focus on beach volleyball in 2017, according to The Athletic. He made his debut on the AVP Tour in 2018.
Chase Budinger of United States competes against team Mexico during the Beach Volleyball World Cup Men’s match between USA and Mexico. on October 10, 2023.
Essene Hernandez/Eyepix Group/Shutterstock
Budinger told Yahoo Sports in 2019 that it was “tough” to step away from “a sport I’ve been doing all my life,” and called basketball his “first love.”
“Basketball was always my first love,” Budinger told the outlet, adding, “I just love the competitiveness. I love the physicality.”
“The only good thing is it was planned this way,” he said of turning his focus to beach volleyball. “Just the timing of it was the toughest part. I was in that really unsure phase,”
Budinger and Evans will join Andy Benesh and Miles Partain when they represent the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team in Paris.
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.com. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.
