Elena Delle Donne won the three biggest titles in professional basketball over a decorated playing career.
In her next role, she’ll look to help form a championship team.
Delle Donne has been named the first USA Basketball women’s 3×3 national team managing director.
“USA Basketball was an important part of my on-court career for a decade and a half,” Delle Donne said in a press release. “To have the opportunity to continue my journey with the organization, and to help shape and grow the 3×3 program, is something that I take very seriously. Thank you to USA Basketball for trusting me with this role. I’m excited to get started.”
Delle Donne, 36, retired from playing this past April after a career that included an Olympic gold medal (2016), a FIBA World Cup title (2018), a WNBA title (2019) and two WNBA MVPs (2015, 2019).
She was part of a deep frontcourt for the U.S. in the 2010s, teaming at different times with Brittney Griner, Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles, A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.
In her new role, Delle Donne will identify players and coaches for major 3×3 competitions, including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, like Sue Bird will do for the women’s 5×5 team.
The U.S. won the first Olympic women’s 3×3 tournament at the Tokyo Games.
In Paris, the team of Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith took bronze after an overtime defeat to Spain in the semifinals. Cameron Brink was originally named to the team but tore an ACL a month before the Games and was replaced by Hamby.
While NBA players have not participated in Olympic 3×3, both the U.S. women’s teams in Tokyo and Paris included WNBA players.
For Tokyo and Paris, players needed to have 3×3 experience to be eligible for Olympic selection. That means hopefuls in the WNBA or in college typically need to play 3×3 in their offseasons.
“A lot of your questions will depend on the players and what they will commit to, but for me, I’m excited that I’m starting this process early, and we’re going to draw out the map all the way leading up to the Olympics,” she said. “When we’re going to have these qualifying tournaments, are we going to need college kids at this time? When can we throw in some (WNBA) players? When can we throw in players who have been playing it (3×3) for years now? So I’m excited about the size of the pool. Obviously, 5×5 will have their 12, but that’s just 12. So being able to make sure we get these players to play both.
“We only have so many tournaments, so it’s going to be interesting how we’ll throw in four players here, maybe throw in a different there. But as we get closer to the Olympics, I want to see our four being able to play together and just starting to piece it together.”
Sue Bird won five Olympic gold medals and never lost a game at the Olympics.