Former NBA player Chase Budinger will be competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but he won't need basketball shoes to compete — he'll be representing the United States in beach volleyball.
The seven-year NBA veteran qualified for Paris on Wednesday along with partner Miles Evans. The duo, ranked 13th in the world, will compete in the Olympics as the No. 2 U.S. team behind No. 5 Miles Partin and Andy Benes. Budinger and Evans' berth was secured after the No. 3 U.S. team of Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb was eliminated in the first round at the last qualifying tournament in the Czech Republic.
An Instagram video shows Budinger and Evans learning they had qualified to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Chase Budinger's NBA career
Qualifying for the Olympics is a remarkable achievement for the 36-year-old, who has spent the majority of his professional career on the court.
Budinger played basketball and volleyball in high school but chose to play basketball at Arizona. He was a very promising freshman and was co-MVP with Kevin Durant in the McDonald's All-American Game in 2006. Budinger played three seasons with the Wildcats and was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2007 and was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team in 2009.
Budinger was selected in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons but was traded to the Houston Rockets that night. He played three seasons with the Rockets, where he had the best years of his career, before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He also played for the Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns, playing his final NBA game in 2016. He finished his career appearing in 407 games, averaging 7.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
Chase Budinger's move to beach volleyball
Budinger was a star volleyball player at La Costa Canyon High School in California, where he led his team to three volleyball state championships and was named High School Player of the Year by Volleyball Magazine, before joining the professional beach volleyball AVP Tour in 2018.
“It was always my plan to play beach volleyball after basketball was over,” Budinger told the Indianapolis Star, a USA Today Network subsidiary, in 2019.
Budinger had five different partners in her volleyball career before teaming up with Evans in 2023, and they rose through the world rankings and earned an Olympic berth, something Budinger said she wanted to accomplish nearly five years ago.
“Hopefully I'd like to represent the U.S. in the Olympics,” he said. “My goal is to be number one in the world.”
When the Olympics begin, Budinger will become the first player to play in an NBA regular-season game and Olympic beach volleyball, according to NBC Sports.
