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They didn’t know if they’d ever play together again.

Jimmy Boeheim sat at the postgame press conference at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Towel around his shoulders. Gaze fixed solemnly on the stat sheet that rested on the table in front of him. Duke 88, Syracuse 79.

To his left, his father, who’d just finished his 46th season as the Orange’s head coach. To his right, his younger brother, donning a navy blue Syracuse track suit, with tears in his eyes.

Playing alongside his brother, Buddy, under his father, Jim, was a dream Jimmy never thought he’d achieve. He’d spent four years at Cornell before transferring to Syracuse to join his storied father and fan-favorite brother. It was a fairy-tale finale for a family that had become college basketball icons.

But Syracuse’s nine-point loss in the second round of the 2022 ACC Tournament closed the book on that chapter. Buddy was controversially suspended for the game.

While Jimmy poured in 28 points, it wasn’t enough to power the Orange to an upset win over the top-seeded Blue Devils. It seemed their time as teammates had come to an end.

Though now, three years later, they’ll be sharing the court again. Both Buddy and Jimmy have committed to play in The Basketball Tournament — a single-elimination summer basketball competition — for the team that bears their family name, Boeheim’s Army.

They’ve taken drastically different paths throughout professional basketball: Buddy in the NBA G-League and Jimmy overseas, but both routes have led them back to Syracuse, where they hope to contend for a TBT title.

“It’s going to be really great for the community, for them to be both back in orange, with the (Boeheim) name on the front and on the back of their jerseys,” said Boeheim’s Army general manager Shaun Belbey.

The reunion has been a long time coming, both Belbey and team chairman Adam Weitsman said. Each summer since his graduation, Jimmy has been a fixture in the squad, barring 2024, when BA didn’t field a team.

Buddy said he has always wanted to suit up for the tournament, but his NBA contract didn’t allow him much flexibility. His flight from Las Vegas, where he played in the NBA Summer League with the Indiana Pacers, landed less than 24 hours before BA’s first game on July 19.

But he wasn’t going to miss a chance to team up with his brother. The pair hadn’t played together consistently since the summer after that loss to Duke.

In anticipation of the upcoming 2022 NBA Draft, they moved to New York City to train in the offseason. Their agency, Roc Nation, situated the brothers in an apartment in Midtown Manhattan that included a regulation-size NBA basketball court, Buddy said.

For several months, Buddy and Jimmy would work out together two or three times a day. They also explored New York City, trying new restaurants and shopping around the city. Both of them flew around the country periodically for workouts with NBA teams.

“Having (Jimmy) by my side was very comforting in a crazy time period of workouts and traveling and not knowing the next step,” Buddy said.

Buddy and Jimmy Boeheim hug during Syracuse and Cornell’s November 2019 game. Buddy played for Syracuse from 2018-22 before Jimmy competed alongside him in the 2021-22 campaign. Daily Orange File Photo

But the two didn’t have high expectations for the draft in June. Buddy’s stock was the highest of the two, though most mock drafts didn’t feature either of their names.

Toward the end of the second round, Buddy’s agent told him the Detroit Pistons were interested in adding him on a two-way deal, meaning he’d float between the NBA and G-League. He said he’d shot well in a workout with the Pistons earlier that summer, so he jumped at the opportunity.

Jimmy also went undrafted, but teams came calling soon enough. He had a couple of options, the brothers said, but once the Pistons extended a Summer League offer, his choice was obvious.

A few months removed from their last game with SU, the Boeheim brothers took the court in Las Vegas, donning an NBA logo on their chests. Buddy appeared in all five of the Pistons’ games while Jimmy played in three.

“To be able to put on an NBA jersey, compete in Summer League, getting to do that with Buddy was just a really awesome experience,” Jimmy said.

But the brothers’ paths diverged from there. Buddy headed to Detroit to begin his season with the Pistons. Jimmy, meanwhile, didn’t receive any NBA offers.

“The dream is always to play in the NBA, but you also have to be real with yourself,” Jimmy added. “We just thought it was best to go right overseas and try to establish myself over there.”

Heading into the 2022-2023 season, Jimmy inked a deal with Greek club AS Karditsas. He was excited, but just like every step of the brothers’ professional careers, the degree of uncertainty worried him. To put himself at ease, he often reminded himself that he was pursuing a lifelong dream.

Between learning new languages, navigating new cities and adjusting to a new style of basketball, it took Jimmy time to settle in.

He faced adversity early in his European career. Midway through his first season, his head coach, Vangelis Angelou, was fired, and he no longer fit with AS Karditsas’ new staff. So, he moved to Nymburk in Czechia, where he closed out the 2022-23 campaign.

After that tumultuous season, Jimmy sidled to Germany over the 2023 offseason, which he described as the most similar country to the U.S. that he’s lived in. While he’s played for two teams in two years, Tigers Tübingen and BG Göttingen, Jimmy’s found consistency on the court and comfort off of it.

Jimmy said he’s enjoyed the rich culture and ability to travel, estimating he’s been to about 11 new countries in the past three years. He loves “playing tour guide” when his family and friends visit him in Europe, he said, showing them his favorite restaurants and attractions.

Buddy was settling into the pro game, too. Though he primarily spent his first city with the Motor City Cruise — the Pistons’ G-League affiliate — he made his NBA debut in a Pistons loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden that October. He appeared in 20 games across two seasons at the NBA level but couldn’t become a mainstay.

Still, growing alongside young superstars like Cade Cunningham in Detroit has been one of the most valuable experiences of his career, he said.

Buddy had several bright spots in 2024 with the Pistons, notably scoring an NBA career-high 13 points in a March game against the New Orleans Pelicans. But he was waived by Detroit that June.

​”As you go through years of playing, I understand that some situations are just out of your control,” Buddy said. “I’ve had adversity each season that I can point to, but it’s just staying ready, getting better through it all, and knowing that when you get a chance, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

He’s since been clawing back with the Oklahoma City Thunder organization. While Buddy didn’t appear in an NBA game last year, he views his 2024-25 season with OKC as his “favorite year in terms of growing as a player.”

These days, it’s difficult for the brothers to keep up with each other between jam-packed schedules and a six-hour time difference.

They mostly catch up over hour-long Fortnite gaming sessions. The two rarely get to watch one another play aside from skimming box scores and watching highlights on Instagram. But they said their relationship has only grown since graduating from Syracuse.

The Boeheim family pose before Syracuse played Cornell in 2018. After starting his career with the Big Red, Jimmy transferred to SU, linking up with his brother, Buddy. Daily Orange File Photo

Still, the pair butted heads often when they were younger. Childhood competition started by the time Buddy, who’s two years younger, could walk.

Growing up, their mother, Juli, would dread seeing the two boys head into the red playroom on the Boeheim household’s first floor. The brothers would have one-on-one battles on the Tiny Tykes hoop, sometimes refereed by their father. Buddy said that Jimmy would never let him win, even if he bent the rules. It’d often result in tears or a fight between the two.

As teammates at Jamesville-DeWitt High School (New York) and even at points during their year together at Syracuse, they learned how to complement one another on the court.

Though now, they’re becoming better friends off it.

They’ve bonded over a shared interest in books and movies, Buddy said. Jimmy is an avid user of Letterboxd, an online platform that allows people to track and review each movie they watch. Buddy estimated Jimmy’s logged about 750 films. He often scrolls through his brother’s profile when he needs a good flick to take his mind off basketball.

“When we were in Syracuse, it was all basketball, basketball, basketball,” Buddy said. “We were so focused on that. You feel the expectations, the pressure of that. Now, we’re bonding more as brothers and as friends.”

So, when Belbey reached out to the brothers to gauge their interest in reuniting in TBT, it was a no-brainer. They headline a deep roster that Belbey and Weitsman described as “championship or bust.”

Buddy can’t wait for the in-game atmosphere, which Weitsman says should be sold out. Jimmy said it’s exciting to play with a high-caliber roster. It doesn’t hurt that one of its stars is his brother.

“There’s really nothing like it,” Buddy said. “You play in the G-League in front of 100 fans, and you love it ’cause you love basketball, but to play in front of that (Syracuse) crowd again will probably be the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“The goal is to win the whole thing,” Jimmy added. “You don’t get a prize for getting second or third. That’s what we have our sights on.”

Buddy and Jimmy’s lone year at Syracuse felt like a storybook scene for the Boeheim family. And though their paths through pro basketball have diverged over the past three seasons, they reunite this summer to play for their hometown, with their family name on their jersey, in front of fans and family members who watched them grow up.

Three years removed from their final game at Syracuse, TBT is their chance to write the perfect ending that never was.

Published on July 19, 2025 at 5:37 pm
harrispemberton@gmail.com | @HarrisPemb6