Budinger and Evans only spent 32 minutes with their toes in the sand. It wasn’t enough time to enjoy the scenery, but it was enough time for others to appreciate the moment.
Decades ago, as a young man, Budinger created a dream board, and he put the Olympic rings on it. It was a big dream, but as a two-sport athlete, Budinger didn’t exactly envision following in the footsteps of NBA players on Team USA or representing his country in men’s volleyball. He just wanted to go to the Olympics. And on Monday, he made history as the first athlete to play in the NBA. And On the Olympic beach volleyball team.
More than eight years after his last NBA appearance, Budinger’s dream board has become a reality.
“It was definitely up to the expectations,” Budinger said of his first Olympic moment. “It was absolutely unbelievable. It was so amazing, and the feeling there was unreal.”
There’s a lot of overlap between Budinger’s two passions. He still wears an undershirt and shorts to the office, but now he can pair it with wraparound sunglasses. And volleyball fans love big blocks just as much as NBA fans do.
Although Budinger wasn’t known as a tall goalie in the league, he was the 6-foot-7 goalie on the beach. In the second set, when Budinger lobbed a Frenchman to put the Americans up 9-6, a man in a blue-starred bucket hat borrowed the finger-flicking celebration made famous by Dikembe Mutombo. no no no!
Budinger did not make such a bold display, although it was perhaps fitting, after one of his four attempts to score, that Budinger should have extended his index finger to his lips as he and Evans spent the afternoon silencing the mostly pro-French crowd.
Budinger had to understand the power of home advantage, and since he felt—but did not hear—the cheers that French duo Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Youssef Krou received, he knew the Americans were on enemy territory. And he liked it.
“It was very loud there. The French fans really came out to support their team; [they] “We were screaming,” Budinger said. “He turned to Evans during the introduction of the French players and said, ‘Oh my God, this feels great!’ I love playing against this team. It brought back so many memories of going to NBA stadiums and playing away.”
Budinger played seven seasons in the NBA, mostly as a benchwarmer. During the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, he quoted “White Men Can’t Jump,” dressed as Woody Harrelson and leapt over rapper Sean Combs. (If he had a time machine, he’d surely go back in time and pick any other human to jump over.) In the 2016-17 season, Budinger went to Spain to prolong his career. But after a year abroad, he thought about his future. More specifically, his future in volleyball.
“I knew this was the path I wanted to take, but I remember asking myself if this was the right decision at the time I was retiring from basketball,” Budinger said. “Am I doing the right thing for myself? But after three weeks of complaining,” he said, “I kind of changed my mind.”
Budinger didn’t treat the beach as a hobby after retiring. He traveled the world competing, sought out Evans as a partner, and trained five times a week. All in an effort to make it to the Olympics. And along the way, he won the admiration of his former teammates.
Evans posted a video of members of the U.S. men’s basketball team greeting Budinger before the opening ceremony on Friday.
“Congratulations! You’ve been paying attention. I’ve been watching,” LeBron James can be heard telling Budinger in the video.
After Monday’s match, Frenchman Gauthier Rat was impressed with how Budinger transitioned from the hardwood to the sand.
“I respect him a lot,” Gauthier Rat said. “I don’t know if it had anything to do with his NBA experience, but from my perspective, he was the only calm player on the court. The other three, his partner and both of us, were more nervous and felt more pressure. He was more relaxed… and that made the difference.”
His basketball past may have taught him to keep a cool face, but he admitted he felt “very nervous,” just as he did before his NBA debut. However, after the stadium announcer introduced Budinger as the American player who was “making history,” he and Evans got along perfectly in a two-set win. Budinger knows he has to try to slow down a bit in the next game and enjoy his dreams.
“I felt like it was too fast,” Budinger said. “I felt like there were times where I should have enjoyed the scenery a little bit more, or maybe the breaks could have been a little bit longer for us to enjoy it.”