Former CofC standout, son of NBA Hall of Famer to play for Team USA in Olympics (2024)

Canyon Barry is going to get to do something this summer that his Hall of Fame father – Rick Barry – never got to experience, represent the United States in the Olympic games.

Rick Barry is the only basketball player to have led the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring. He was a 12-time NBA/ABA all-star and led the Golden State Warriors to the 1975 NBA championship where he was named MVP in the finals.

There’s just one minor hole in Rick’s resume – he never made it to the Olympics.

But that’s okay because Canyon, 30, will be wearing the Red, White and Blue at the XXXIII Paris Summer Olympics as part of the U.S.’s 3x3 basketball team.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder or happier for Canyon,” Rick said. “He’s going to do something that no one in the Barry family has ever done – represent the United States in the Olympics.”

The men’s 3x3 tournament will begin on July 30 with the gold medal game taking place on Aug. 5.

Along with Barry, the rest of the U.S. team is made up of former collegiate standouts – Kareem Maddox (Princeton), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), and Dylan Travis (Florida Southern).

“The Olympics are about 40 days away and it hasn’t really sunk in that I’m going to be playing for the U.S.,” said Canyon Barry, who played at College of Charleston from 2013-16. “It’s an absolute honor to be selected to represent your country in the pinnacle of sports. We’re going to do everything we can to bring back the gold medal.”

Despite being among college basketball’s leader scorers during the 1963-64 season – Rick Barry averaged 32.2 points and 16.6 rebounds a game as a junior at the University of Miami – he was not selected to the U.S. team that summer in Tokyo.

“I wasn’t even invited to the tryouts,” Rick said. “I didn’t get an invite until Gary Bradds (Ohio State) got hurt. I thought I’d played well enough to make the team, but it didn't happen. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my basketball career.”

After being named the SEC’s sixth player of the year in 2017, Canyon Barry thought he'd done enough to prove to NBA scouts that he belong in the league. Unfortunately, he was never able to catch on with an NBA team. He played four seasons (2018-22) in the NBA’s G League with the Iowa Wolves, averaging 9.0 points and 3.3 rebounds a game.

He tried his luck overseas, playing professionally in China, Czech Republic and Finland.

“I’ve been so fortunate that basketball has allowed me to experience so many different counties and so many different cultures,” he said.

It wasn’t until 2019, that Barry found his calling on USA Basketball's 3x3 national team.

The former CofC standout was a member of the 2019 U.S. 3x3 World Cup team that claimed an historic first gold medal with a 7-0 record. He was the U.S.’s second-leading scorer with 39 points (5.6 ppg), which ranked fifth among all competitors.

“There was a little transition period for me going from 5-on-5 to 3-on-3,” Barry said. “I think if you are a fundamentally sound player, it makes it easier. Kareem Maddox, one of my Olympic teammates now did a great job of taking me under his wing and teaching me the game.”

These days, playing in 5-on-5 pick-up games has almost become boring for Barry.

“To me, 3-on-3 is one of the purest forms of basketball,” Barry said. “There’s so much more room out there and so much more action that you’re involved with. You get to touch the ball so much more."

His father is not surprised at his son’s success at the 3x3 circuit.

“It requires a terrific understanding of the game,” said Rick Barry, a 12-time all-star at the professional basketball level. “You can’t have a major weakness because it will get exposed. You have to move without the ball, pass it, shoot it and handle it well. You have to have a feel for the game and a high basketball IQ, all things Canyon does at a very high level.”

There isn’t a ton of money in 3x3 basketball, so Barry has had to hold down a full-time job to make ends meet.

Barry, who graduated summa cum laude with a degree in physics from College of Charleston and has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from Florida, is a systems engineer for L3Harris, a global aerospace and technology company headquartered in Melbourne, Fla.

Two weeks ago, while he was playing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for a tournament, he was part of a 2 a.m. work call.

“I’m really blessed to work at L3Harris,” he said. “My co-workers and bosses realize that the Olympics are really a one-time opportunity and they’ve been behind me from the very beginning.”

The Americans go into the Paris Olympics as the second-ranked team in the eight-team tournament. Serbia is No. 1.

“Serbia is a really good team, very skilled,” Barry said. “The Netherlands is a very physical team. There are not going to be any weak teams at the Olympics.

Barry likes the U.S.’s chances of standing on the podium on the final day of the tournament.

“I think if we have really good flow offensively, we’ve got one of the greatest shooters on the planet in Jimmer Fredette,” Barry said. “If he’s making shots, we’re a very hard team to beat. We need to stay connected defensively. We stick to our principles and rules on the court, I think we’re the best team in the world.”