Kareem Maddox, American 3×3 basketball player, is working hard to get to the Olympics

PARIS – For Kareem Maddox and the struggling USA 3×3 men’s basketball team, their anticipated path to a medal at the Paris Olympics will likely be derailed. But for the American, simply making it to the Olympics from a singular Ivy League path has made his journey unforgettable.

“It’s been an absolutely beautiful experience,” Maddox told Andscape. “I’m enjoying it with my family, having the full support of everyone I’ve worked with at USA Basketball, all in one place. I can’t wait to reflect on it when it’s all said and done. But we’re keeping our heads down, still working hard.”

Since 2015, Maddox has been certainly one of the most decorated Americans in the short history of 3×3 basketball, a discipline that may appear on the Olympic program in 2020.

The Los Angeles-born player has played for the U.S. in two FIBA ​​3×3 World Cups, two FIBA ​​3×3 Men’s AmeriCups and two Pan American Games. Maddox was a member of the U.S. men’s 3×3 national team that went 3-2 in the 2021 FIBA ​​3×3 Olympic qualifying tournament. He is also a member of the USA Basketball 3×3 men’s team, together with former NBA point guard Jimmer Fredette, Dylan Travis and Canyon Berry. The U.S. was 0-4 with Fredette sidelined with an injury before Friday’s first group-stage victory, 21-19 against host France.

“I won’t lie, it was a tough time on the court,” Maddox said. “The rules and the length of the game make it unpredictable enough. Then you think about every thing that happened outside of that, and you’ve gotten a tournament that is like this. The game is the game.

“It’s not over yet. We’re still fighting. I’ve seen worse things happen. We just have to dig deeper.”

Maddox was born on December 9, 1989, in Los Angeles to an African-American father and a Sudanese mother whose father was once the director of the Sudanese boxing federation. Maddox’s father, Alan, had been to several Summer Olympics and worked as a volunteer at the media center. Kareem Maddox was able to go to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he dreamed of becoming an Olympian.

Before specializing in basketball, Kareem Maddox grew up playing other sports, reminiscent of track, tennis, water polo, and cross-country, at his father’s request. Maddox was not a widely known basketball player in Los Angeles when he played at suburban Oak Park High School. The late-blooming 6-foot-8 winger didn’t play AAU basketball and was not a sought-after recruit by Division I programs. Alan Maddox, nonetheless, believed his son had the talent and grades to play college basketball at an Ivy League school.

In the summer of 2007, Alan Maddox sent his son to an elite basketball camp at Princeton. Then-head coach Joe Scott was impressed with Kareem’s play at the camp and commenced recruiting him. Penn, Harvard, Yale and Puget Sound showed interest during his senior season, but Kareem Maddox signed a letter of intent to play for Princeton on February 7, 2007.

“I didn’t play AAU or have any recruiting experience, so nobody had heard of me, I didn’t have any letters,” Kareem Maddox said. “So we flew out to New Jersey and just signed up for Princeton’s elite camp. I used to be like, ‘Okay, whatever, this sounds cool.’ So I played, Joe Scott was the coach, and I used to be just with the other campers. But I played pretty much. I used to be an athlete and a superb, decent basketball player, but probably not that sophisticated.

“(Scott) said, ‘Who are you and where are you going to school? How’s college going? And I said, ‘Oh no, I don’t have any letters. I don’t know if I’m going to play basketball in college.’ He said, ‘Well, can you come here? How are your grades?’ I said, ‘They’re good. I have a 3.8, 3.9 (grade point average). And I don’t know if they’re good enough for Princeton.’ He said, ‘I’ll worry about that. You don’t worry about that.’ And the rest is history.”

Maddox averaged 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game during his profession at Princeton from 2007 to 2011. As a senior in 2010-11, the 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year averaged 14 points, 6.9 rebounds and a team-high 1.7 blocks per game. He also holds a level in English literature.

After Princeton, Maddox played professionally in the Netherlands and England for 2 seasons. In 2013, he retired from basketball and have become a news producer for Los Angeles radio station KCRW. Maddox also hosted NPR’s All Things Considered, which focused on vital public affairs.

Maddox began playing 3-on-3 basketball for Ariel Slow and Steady in 2015, which finished fourth in the 2015 USA Basketball 3×3 Nationals. His desire to return to basketball grew after watching the Cleveland Cavaliers come from 3-1 down in the 2016 NBA Finals to defeat the Golden State Warriors. In the summer of 2016, he traveled to Las Vegas and took part in basketball tryouts with foreign teams searching for players. This led to him working as knowledgeable basketball player in Poland during the 2016-17 season after a three-year hiatus.

“I was more surprised when he came out of retirement and decided to come back and play 5-on-5 in Poland again because his radio and TV career was going so well,” said Alan Maddox. “I would say I was 50-50 on that. But again, by that time he had the skills and the education to support himself even if it didn’t work out or if it did work out. It worked out in the end. We’re really happy for him.”

In 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that 3×3 basketball can be added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. That’s when Maddox began to consider his Olympic dream could come true. In 2018, he earned MVP honors as Ariel Slow and Steady won the 2018 USA Basketball 3×3 Nationals title. It was that honor that led to his first time on the USA Basketball 3×3 roster as a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the inaugural 3×3 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Maddox has had other interests outside of 3×3 basketball over the years, including work in media. He has been a journalist for NPR member stations in Los Angeles and Colorado. He has produced each day newscasts and hosted “All Things Considered” for a statewide audience on KUNC News. He has produced podcasts for Spotify-acquired Gimlet Media. He also produced “The Pitch,” a real inside take a look at the enterprise capital fundraising process.

Maddox didn’t make it to the NBA, but he became a component of it through the Minnesota Timberwolves. He lives in Minneapolis, where he works for the Timberwolves in video, scouting and player development. Maddox was hired by Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, whose younger brother, Dan, was the director of basketball operations at Princeton when Maddox played there.

“I’ll be out there warming up and shooting and stuff like that,” Maddox said. “Whatever they need. I’ll jump into practice if I need to. And then I’ll just put together some videos for the scouts.”

Maddox was devastated when the USA Basketball 3×3 team failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, the U.S. qualified for the Paris Olympics after ending second at the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup in Serbia.

“I felt grateful working out and training for the last three years that I was able to do it, that I was healthy enough and fortunate enough,” Maddox said.

Alan Maddox is a part of a bunch of relations cheering on Kareem Maddox in France. Alan Maddox hopes more kids will get involved in sports by watching the Olympics.

“Only a limited number of people will be in the major leagues, but anyone can play an Olympic sport in their youth, high school, college and, in many cases, professionally,” said Alan Maddox. “Some of the most amazing people I meet are athletes who’re much more amazing of their careers outside of the Olympics. They have amazing careers because, again, coming back to those sports and specializing in something and having the ability to concentrate on something and stick to it, that’s just a very good thing, so far as I’m concerned…

“We saw (Kareem’s) work, discipline and travel. We were really excited to see that when someone puts that much effort into something, they succeed. That’s not an easy thing to do.”

Medal or no medal, the Olympic experience was definitely memorable for Maddox. While most of the American athletes stayed in the Olympic Village, all of the USA Basketball teams stayed in a secure hotel in Paris.

That means Maddox and the USA Basketball 3×3 men’s and girls’s teams will likely be staying at the same hotel as NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, and WNBA stars A’ja Wilson, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart, who’re all members of their senior national teams. The Olympic 3×3 competition is also happening in the heart of Paris at La Concorde, a city park that has been transformed into a brief outdoor arena that also hosts BMX freestyle, breaking and skateboarding competitions.

“We’re just keeping a small footprint. And no, no, we’re definitely not trying to take pictures with anyone or anything like that,” Maddox said. “We’re hoping to get tickets to the finale, but we’ll be there to watch them.”

Playing basketball has given Maddox the opportunity to visit some 25 countries, and he’s enjoyed every trip. He’ll be 38 when the 2028 Olympics are held in Los Angeles. If USA Basketball still wants him on the roster, he’d like to try to win a 3×3 medal on American soil. In the meantime, he plans to proceed playing for the Timberwolves and begin a each day podcast.

“I’ll play as long as it makes sense, as long as I love it and enjoy it,” Maddox said. “It’s been the biggest blessing. It’s just every thing I like to do. It’s the traveling. It’s the time to myself while I’m traveling. It’s the competition, and also you only play for the weekend, after which you’ve gotten time to do whatever you wish.

“I’m going to try to get as much out of it as I can. And at this level, who knows? We’ll see. I think the game is evolving and it’s going to be harder and harder for a 38-year-old at this point to make it to 2028.”