Former NBA Player Chase Budinger Loses in Olympic Beach Volleyball KO Bracket

Chase Budinger's dream of an Olympic medal is over.

Budinger and partner Miles Evans were swept 2-0 by the Norwegian duo of Anders Mol and Christian Sørum in Monday's Round of 16 play. Mol and Sørum won both matches in the best-of-3 format with relative ease, taking the first 21-16 and the second 21-14.

Budinger and Miles were heavy underdogs to Mol and Sørum, who are the reigning gold medal winners and favorites to repeat their triumph from the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. The Norwegian duo looked the part on Monday and will go into the quarterfinals with all of the momentum in their favor.

Budinger, who played seven NBA seasons before embarking on a volleyball career, should nevertheless see his Olympic run as nothing short of a success. Spending seven years in the NBA is an accomplishment by itself. Doing so and then turning your attention to a completely different sport in your late 20s and then reaching Olympic heights is essentially unheard of.

Budinger is the first player to compete in both the NBA and Olympic volleyball.

Fellow Americans Miles Partain and Andy Benesh also reached the Round of 16 and will compete later Monday against the Italian duo of Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava.