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PARIS — The first sign that the U.S. men’s 3×3 team would not have Jimmer Fredette Thursday against Lithuania came during player introductions.
When the PA announcer introduced Fredette, the American star limped slowly and gingerly out of the tunnel, his right leg in a sleeve.
Fredette suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury with about three minutes remaining in the U.S.’s loss to Poland on Wednesday night. USA Basketball offered no update on his condition after the game, but teammate Kareem Maddox told Yahoo Sports that he was “not too concerned.”
“I guarantee you he’ll be playing tomorrow,” Maddox added.
Turned out Maddox was overly optimistic. Fredette did not warm up with his teammates and watched from a folding chair as his teammates tried to notch their first win of men’s 3×3 group play after an 0-2 start.
They didn’t, losing 20-18 to Lithuania to fall to 0-3.
The U.S. arrived in Paris as one of the favorites to win men’s 3×3 gold in Paris, but it’s difficult to imagine the Americans even medaling without Fredette. Not only was he their best player and offensive engine during Olympic qualifying, his absence leaves the U.S. with no available substitutes and forces Canyon Barry, Dylan Travis and Maddox to play every minute.
Two summers ago, when USA Basketball’s Fran Fraschilla approached Fredette about playing 3×3 basketball, he accepted the invitation for one major reason. “As soon as I heard ‘Olympics,’ I was like, ‘I’m all in,’” Fredette said earlier this summer. “I saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The hotly anticipated Jimmermania revival tour, though, hasn’t come to fruition. The former BYU folk hero scored just four points in the U.S.’s opening loss to Serbia on Tuesday night and then had three points on Wednesday against Poland.
