Chase Budinger played a total of seven seasons in the NBA with four teams – the Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns – before retiring in 2017. He never represented the USA in the Olympic basketball competition, but is set to suit up for his country in the beach volleyball event at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

"It's such an honor to be able to represent the country of the United States," the 36-year-old Budinger told CGTN Sports Scene's Greg Laffradi. "You know, for me, switching from basketball to beach volleyball, it's been a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, because I was so new to it when I first started. And I knew I had to put in a lot of work to get to this point. And I've been so grateful, and a lot of gratitude towards that, because now I can officially say I'm an Olympian."

The majority of Budinger's highlights as a basketball player took place in college at the University of Arizona and high school at La Costa Canyon. As a 2.01-meter-tall forward, he was a role player during most of his time in the NBA.

His athleticism has certainly been helpful while playing volleyball, but the transition was never easy.

"Extremely difficult. I think the hardest thing to really learn about beach volleyball is every tournament is different," Budinger said. "And what I mean by that is some tournaments you could play in a lot of wind, some tournaments it could be raining, some tournaments it could be really cold, some tournaments it could be super hot and humid. So you have to play in all these different elements, and learn how to control the ball and control how your body's feeling, and all these different elements."

The beach volleyball events at Paris 2024 are taking place between July 27 and August 10 at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

"It is absolutely spectacular. It's probably the best venue I've ever played in," Budinger said. "We were there yesterday to practice and it's even better in person than it is in pictures."