Chase Budinger, 36, is making
his Olympic entrance after an impressive seven-season NBA career, during which
he played in more than 400 games. Particularly, he is the first athlete to
compete in both an NBA regular season game and an Olympic beach volleyball
match. He and his partner, Miles Evans, are annoying to become the first U.S
men's beach volleyball team to earn a medal since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Budinger's volleyball talent
was obvious long before her NBA career. As a former national volleyball player
of the year at La Costa Canyon High School in California, she was offered
scholarships to USC and UCLA in both basketball & volleyball but chose to
play basketball at Arizona.
After scoring over 3,000
points in the NBA, Budinger repaid to beach volleyball, this time.
"It's an incredible
feeling to represent the United States at the Olympics after all the hard work
and devotion over the past few years," Budinger told NBC Olympics' Erin
Maher in June. "I'm really enthusiastic about it."
Budinger & Evans are owing
back in court on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m ET will face Dutch duo Stefan Boermans &
Yorick de Groot.
