Jimmer Fredette’s playing days are not over after all.
A little less than 17 months after the former BYU star and NBA guard announced he was hanging it up last April, USA Basketball announced on Tuesday that 37-year-old Fredette has been added to Team Miami for the remainder of the 2026 FIBA 3×3 Men’s Pro Circuit, beginning this weekend in Phoenix.
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“When I retired from the game I love 18 months ago, I was at peace,” Fredette said in a USA Basketball statement. “As my time removed from the halfcourt extended, I realized I still have something left.
“The possibility to come back came with the inspiration of my wife and family. I am focused on helping the USA Basketball 3×3 program achieve new heights. I am thankful for the support and encouragement as I take on this challenge.”
The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds reported that Fredette may be eyeing a return to play in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, although Fredette stopped short of declaring that.
“I won’t lie to you and say that there’s not a little bit of a feeling of unfinished business, but I think generally it’s more of me thinking I can still play,” Fredette told Reynolds. “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.”
Fredette has been the managing director of USA Basketball’s 3×3 program since last May, an appointment that formally came a few weeks after his retirement announcement.
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His addition to Team Miami came about after an injury to Dylan Travis. He will join a Team Miami squad that includes a former Utah Runnin’ Ute in Riley Battin, along with Henry Caruso, Mitch Hahn, James Parrott and Jackson Trapp.
Fredette, of course, has an extensive history playing 3×3 for USA Basketball. After his NBA career ended once and for all in 2021, he began playing 3×3 in 2022 and subsequently played in several tournaments representing the United States.
In 2024, he represented the country on the biggest stage at the Olympic Games in Paris as the United States made its first-ever appearance in 3×3 basketball (it became an Olympic sport at the Games prior in Tokyo).
Unfortunately for Fredette, he suffered an injury in the second game of the event that sidelined him for the remainder of it. He announced his retirement eight months later.
Prior to focusing on 3×3 basketball, Fredette played professionally from 2011-2021 in the NBA and NBA D-League (now G League) and in China and Greece.
He played for BYU from 2007-2011 and was the national player of the year in 2011.
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