Although Chase Budinger is exhausted from a two-hour practice, he accepts warmly when a young fan approaches for a photo on the boardwalk near the Hermosa Beach volleyball courts. The boy had watched the final hour of Budinger’s practice with partner Miles Evans from a nearby patio and waited for the perfect moment to take a photo with one of the top beach volleyball players in the world.
Craning his neck to look up at the 6-foot-7 Budinger, the boy thanks him for the snapshot.
“And you played in the NBA too, right?” he asks.
Budinger smiles in the affirmative. Sometimes he even forgets about his first career.
To most of the United States, he’s more often recognized as the former Arizona basketball star who was picked in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft, an NBA journeyman who once jumped over a rap star during a dunk contest or the co-most valuable player at the 2006 McDonald’s All-American game who shared top billing with Kevin Durant.
A career change later, call him something new: an Olympian.
The forward-turned-blocker will make his Olympic debut with Evans in Paris on Monday in the first match of pool play. The pair of Olympic rookies are an unlikely duo. The NBA player. The 6-foot-4 defender who didn’t start playing volleyball until sophomore year of high school. They’re “underdogs,” said Evans, who played two years of indoor volleyball at UC Santa Barbara before transitioning to the pro beach circuit.
And they’re out to prove themselves on the world’s biggest stage.
“We made it one goal to go to the Olympics and now it’s time to ramp it up even more,” Budinger said. “Let’s shock the world.”
Budinger always had a dream of being an Olympian. He just never knew which sport would take him there. He grew up in a volleyball family with an older brother who played on the AVP tour and sister who played professionally overseas. Budinger was a high-flying outside hitter at Carlsbad La Costa Canyon High. The 2006 Volleyball Magazine national high school player of the year, he was so highly regarded that he drew comparisons to volleyball legend Karch Kiraly and entertained dual-sport scholarship offers from UCLA and USC. But he chose Arizona, which doesn’t have a Division I men’s volleyball team.
He wanted to see how far basketball could take him.
The McDonald’s All-American became a star at Arizona, leaving after three seasons ranked 11th in career scoring. Drafted 44th overall by the Detroit Pistons, Budinger’s rights were traded immediately to the Houston Rockets, with whom he played three years and averaged 9.4 points and 3.4 rebounds. He played three more seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves before splitting his last year in the NBA between Indiana and Phoenix.
But he was never far from beach volleyball during his basketball career. He played in volleyball events, often on four-man or six-man teams, counting former NBA player Richard Jefferson and former Lakers coach Luke Walton among his beach teammates. He bought a home in Hermosa Beach, the training mecca for many of the world’s top beach teams.
When two-time Olympian Sean Rosenthal gave Budinger the initial call that helped solidify his decision to pass on overseas basketball opportunities to start his beach volleyball career in earnest, Budinger’s volleyball skills were still raw. But the explosive blocker and attacker made the transition look easy alongside two of the sport’s iconic defenders. Budinger was named 2018 AVP rookie of the year with Rosenthal, then won his first AVP tournament in 2019 with Casey Patterson, his partner of two seasons. Armed with the same relentless mindset that helped him stick in the NBA, Budinger credited Rosenthal and Patterson with teaching him the nuances of his second sport.
“I really just try to bring my work ethic that I had in basketball to beach volleyball,” Budinger said. “Just trying to be the hardest worker … and really just work on the little things each and every day.”
The Olympics were an immediate goal when Budinger returned to volleyball. The qualifying window for Paris opened on Jan. 1, 2023, and Budinger set up interviews with several defenders who he believed could be a good fit.
Evans didn’t think he would even make the short list.
The Santa Barbara native didn’t believe he had proven himself domestically to get a look from Budinger. He has just one AVP event title, which he claimed in 2022 with Andy Benesh. He was shocked when he received a text from Budinger inviting him to meet for coffee. They talked about the goal of the Olympics and how they would train to reach it. Individually and as a team, Budinger said, they were not good enough.
Yet.
The pair practices five days a week. During the high-intensity sessions, they jump over knee-high ropes on the sand to simulate taking off for an attack and dive for balls in every corner of the court. Budinger refuses to let a set end on a bad rep.
“We really had that thought process in our minds to get better and we really did over the two years,” Budinger said. “We freaking just put our heads down. We grinded.”
Budinger and Evans outlasted Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner to earn their Olympic nomination in a nearly two-year qualifying process that came down to the final two months. To qualify for the Games, teams have to finish in the top 17 in the FIVB point standings and be among the top two pairs from their country. Budinger and Evans took until the fourth-to-last event to get into qualifying position, but charged to the finish with five consecutive top-five finishes. On a hot streak, the team’s confidence is at an all-time high, Evans said.
The pair has dialed in its system to a tee, Budinger said. Their personalities balance each other out. Budinger admits he can get hard-headed. Evans has the cool head to respond in a productive way, but they keep each other accountable without taking anything personally.
“Honestly, he’s one of the most professional players I’ve ever played with,” Evans said. “The way he goes about the sport is just so much more positive and so much more professional than most of the other guys.”
After chasing Crabb and Brunner for the majority of the qualification process, Budinger and Evans clinched their spot during the final tournament, where Crabb and Brunner failed to advance out of the preliminary bracket.
From the tournament in the Czech Republic, Budinger and coach Ed Keller hunched over a phone to watch the match. Evans stood several feet away, unable to watch. He celebrated only when Budinger and Keller each raised two fists in the air after the final point.
Budinger was relieved. The process had been stressful. Traveling to small tournaments in far-flung international locations was grueling. With each country only allowed two spots, having to root against a fellow American duo felt like a sick mind game.
Budinger returned home after earning the Olympic bid to a street lined with red, white and blue banners. His neighbors decorated their homes with “Budinger-Evans 2024 Paris” signs. His wife, Jessica, taught the couple’s 2-year-old son, Beckham, to say a special phrase for the occasion.
“Dada’s going to the Olympics.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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