Chase Budinger, Miles Evans dominate France in opening beach volleyball match
Former NBA player Chase Budinger and his Team USA partner Miles Evans defeated host nation France in dominant fashion in their opening match in beach volleyball on Monday. The pair won out in the first two sets, negating the need for a third. Budinger became the first former NBA player to start a regular season game in the league and represent Team USA in the Olympics in a sport other than basketball this week.
Despite the crowd chanting loudly in favor of Team France (Youssef Krou/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat) at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, Budinger and Evans took care of business in the opening round. They won the first set 21-14, then the second 21-11. The second set took just 14 minutes.
The former Houston Rockets draftee and teammate Miles Evans earned their spot on this year’s team after passing Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb in the international rankings last month. Budinger and Evans needed Brunner and Crabb to lose their first match in the qualifying tournament this week, which they did, allowing the team to clinch the final spot for Team USA.
It’s an accomplishment that’s been a long time coming for Budinger, 36, who put down basketball in favor of volleyball in 2017. He’d played seven years in the NBA and one year of professional basketball overseas before opting to take his career in a new direction.
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Budinger grew up playing beach volleyball with his brother and was a decorated indoor player in high school as well. He won three state titles and earned Mizuno’s National Player of the Year award from Volleyball Magazine when he was a senior at La Costa Canyon High School in California. Though he received college scholarship offers for volleyball, Budinger opted to play basketball for the University of Arizona instead, while keeping his backup option in the back of his mind.
Budinger finds his match with Miles Evans
Budinger played with multiple teammates before finding his match in Miles Evans last year. The duo is now the No. 2-ranked team in the U.S. and No. 13 in the world. Team USA beach volleyball only sends two teams of each gender to the Olympics, making it one of the toughest sports to qualify for.