It’s not every day you get to hop on a Zoom call with an Olympian. City Editor Connor here, LALtoday’s biggest Olympics fan. When I heard that this year’s Games included a 3x3 basketball player who honed his craft in Lakeland, I jumped at the chance for a one-on-one before he hopped on a flight to Paris. Meet Dylan Travis, an athlete for Team USA in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Q: You played basketball at the collegiate level for Florida Southern College. How did you get into 3x3 basketball?
A: I played regular 5x5 at Florida Southern and then after that, I played professionally in Germany and Australia for four years, up until COVID happened in 2020. I was supposed to go back to Australia to play 5x5 for my third consecutive year there, and then COVID-19 kind of retired me.
I came home to Omaha and started teaching. I needed to make some money to keep a job, so I used my degree and hung up the basketball shoes and started to become a special education teacher and basketball coach at an inner city high school here. Then I had a buddy who was playing 3x3 basketball, and they asked me to play.
I played all around the world the last couple years, and Team USA offered me a contract to play. It was so much travel that I had to quit teaching and go back to full-time basketball, but with 3x3 instead of 5x5. So it’s been a kind of crazy roller coaster.
Q: So what makes 3x3 different from regular 5x5 basketball?
Obviously, it’s three guys versus three guys on a court, and it’s half-court, not full-court. We play to 21 by ones and twos. It’s a 10-minute game clock, 12-second shot clock, so it’s super fast-paced. There’s no check balls after made baskets; it’s just continuous. It’s harder — you have to be more in shape in 3x3 than I was in 5x5, and it’s a lot more physical — and the travel schedule is just insane.
Q: What kind of places do you travel?
A: With the 3x3, there’s a whole pro league called the World Tour. Just this year, we’ve gone to Japan, Boston, a couple different spots in France, Mongolia, a couple different cities in Canada, and Las Vegas. Last year we were all over Asia, the Middle East, and Europe — some really cool spots that I would never probably see if it wasn’t for 3x3.
You’re there five or six days to play the tournament, and then you hop on a plane and you go to the next one. With 5x5, you’re in the country for nine months straight to finish out the season. So it’s a cool balance — a lot of travel, but you get to see some cool stuff.
Q: What does your training look like, especially this close to the games?
Canyon, Kareem, and Jimmer — my teammates — all live in different cities in America, so we can’t train every single day together, but they do bring us out to Colorado Springs to the Olympic Center. If we have a tournament on a weekend, they’ll bring us out that Monday, and we’ll train that whole week together. Then we’ll fly to go play a couple tournaments, and then we fly back to our respective homes.
Q: Thinking back to when you were in Lakeland (2014-2016), what were your favorite memories or your favorite spots?
A: I get back down there all the time. I love Lakeland, Florida. I just remember going on my visit, my very first time, and just how beautiful the campus was and the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. I remember the fitness center that overlooks the lake and all the palm trees. I’m from Nebraska, so I see a palm tree, and I think it’s the coolest thing ever.
I lived on Lake Hollingsworth my first year. I had my own apartment the whole year, so my mom could come down whenever. I have some really good memories of Thanksgiving. I was always on campus as a basketball player, because our season goes the whole year. So it was just nice for my mom to have a place, and it just felt like home there, being able to go on walks with her around Lake Hollingsworth in the mornings. I’ll just never forget those times.
I love Florida Southern. The water dome? I mean, that was unbelievable. I’ll go down and visit every year and sit on the outside of the library and just listen to the water fall on the water dome. It’s one of the most peaceful spots, and where I would always study.
Q: How can people best support you during the Olympics?
I think the best way, if you have social media, is to follow USA Basketball 3x3 on Instagram. They have the schedule on there of every game and time that we play in Paris, all the behind-the-scenes of us traveling, practices, highlight videos, interviews of me and the players and the coaching staff — it’s all on there. They do a great job. You could also find me on Instagram.
If you wanted to really dive into it, FIBA 3x3 is the pro league, and you can see the pro side of things. You’ll know how the week’s going and the next tournament stops. If you wanted to rewatch some of our games, they’re all on YouTube.
Q: How do you feel about your chances at the Games?
A: It’s tough competition, especially in 3x3, because it’s such a short game. But, we just had two tournaments in Canada and we won both of those, and there’s some good competition there. We’re starting to play really good on both sides of the ball. I think our defense was kind of lacking, and we’re starting to pick up on some of the details there, which has, I think, been a big difference for us. So I’m feeling good about it.
Team USA’s men’s 3x3 basketball games begin on Tuesday, July 30 beginning at 4:35 p.m. EST. You can bet I’ll be cheering Dylan and the team on toward the gold from here in Swan City.
