“It’s an exciting process as we assemble the roster that will represent our country on the world stage,” Jay Demings, USA Basketball’s 3-on-3 national team director and a member of the organization’s women’s 3-on-3 selection committee, said in a statement. “We’d like to thank all of the players who have attended training camps or taken part in 3-on-3 competitions on our road to Paris 2024.”
The four team members attended a USA Basketball 3-on-3 camp earlier this year and competed at a FIBA event in April in Springfield, Massachusetts, where Howard, Burdick and Van Lith teamed with Indiana Fever’s Lexi Hull, while Brink teamed with fellow Sparks player Dearika Hamby, Dreams’ Alisha Gray and former WNBA player Renee Harper.
Brink, Burdick and Van Lith joined Harper at the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup, where they won a gold medal with Brink named MVP. Burdick, 30, also helped the U.S. team win a gold medal at the 2014 World Cup. All four players heading to Paris have experience representing the U.S. in traditional 5-on-5 tournaments, including at the youth level.
“I always say it, there is no greater honor than representing the United States at the Olympics,” women’s 3-on-3 coach Jennifer Rizzotti, a former national team player and two-time WNBA champion, said in a statement. “We understand the challenge as we face incredibly talented and experienced 3-on-3 teams. I am confident that this roster, with its experience, versatility and dedication to USA Basketball excellence, gives us what we need to compete for a gold medal again, and I can’t wait to get in the game.”
The Olympic 3-on-3 competition begins on July 30 with men’s and women’s pool play. The U.S. women’s team is the defending champion, as Gray, Kelsey Plumb, Stephanie Dolson and Jacqueline Young won the gold medal in Tokyo, defeating the Russian Olympic Committee team. China is the top-ranked FIBA women’s 3-on-3 national federation, followed by the United States and France. Those three teams will be joined in Paris by Germany, Canada, Spain, Azerbaijan and Australia (in order of seeding).
Olympic 3-on-3 basketball is played on a half-court with a 12-second shot clock and a 10-minute game clock. Teams score one point for a shot inside the arc and two points for a shot outside the arc, and the team that reaches 21 points or has the most points at the end of the game clock wins.
As in previous years, the WNBA paused its regular season for the Olympics, but the league kicked off a highly anticipated season last month with strong additions from stars such as Brink, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Camila Cardoso.
Brink, a multiple-time All-American who helped Stanford win a national title in 2021, has given the rebuilding Sparks a new face for the franchise and is getting results on the court. The 6-foot-4 center is third in the WNBA in blocks per game and is first in the league’s Player Impact Estimate (PIE) metric among players drafted in April who have played in at least half of their team’s games thus far.
Howard, the 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year, is averaging 16.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists this season with a PIE of 13.6, good for 21st in the league. Van Lith had a similarly successful season with Louisville in 2022 before helping LSU reach the Final Four this year in his lone season at the school.
In contrast, Team USA’s men’s 3-on-3 squad has fewer big names but is an experienced one, most notably former BYU star and top NBA draft pick Jimmer Fredette.
