Not Yet ‘Grandma,’ Veteran Cierra Burdick Embraced ‘Auntie’ Role On Winning 3x3 Team

Cierra Burdick reacts during a game at the 2021 Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Nationals on June 13, 2021 in Springfield, Mass.

With her 30th birthday rapidly approaching, Cierra Burdick had a realization: She’s now spent more than half of her young life playing for USA Basketball.
The 6-foot-2 forward made her debut for the national team as a high schooler in 2009, and over the weekend she helped the U.S. women claim the gold medal at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Vienna, Austria, marking her fifth international title with USAB.
“It’s crazy,” said Burdick, who turns 30 in September. “I was actually thinking about … how I’ve almost been with USA Basketball for 15 years. These people have literally watched me grow up.
“I’m just so thankful that they allowed me to be a part of the USA Basketball family in the first place when I was 16 years old as a knucklehead not knowing what on earth I was doing. And then as a grown woman now, to still be a part of this family, it’s just, it’s amazing.”
In Sunday’s final, Burdick scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds — both tying for team highs — to help the Americans beat France, 16-12, which marked the U.S. women’s third 3x3 World Cup title and first since 2014. The U.S. men also reached Sunday’s final and finished second.
With the WNBA season now in full swing and those players not available, the U.S. team featured two 3x3 veterans in Burdick and Linnae Harper, 28, while teammates Cameron Brink and Hailey Van Lith, both 21, are current college standouts for Stanford and Louisville, respectively.
“There is an age gap, for sure,” Burdick said during the tournament. “I mean, I’m definitely the old head of the team. They tried to call me ‘grandma,’ but I prefer ‘auntie.’ I said I’m older, but I’m not grandma yet.”
A couple of her teammates were in elementary school when Burdick made her USA Basketball debut. Then a star player for Butler High School in North Carolina, she played a key role in helping the Americans go undefeated in winning the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
“Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would be a part of USA Basketball for 15 years,” said Burdick, who went from playing on youth national teams to now being on the selection committee for the youth 3x3 team. “This game has taken me to places I never thought I would see. It’s introduced me to people I’m so grateful that I’ve met. It really is a family, and it’s such a small family and unique and genuine and just authentic.”
Burdick added the gold medal she won in Austria to the one she earned at the 3x3 World Cup in 2014. She’s also claimed tournament wins at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Cup and 2010 FIBA U17 World Cup.

(L-R) Alexis Peterson and Cierra Burdick celebrate the championship win over Maryland at the 2021 Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Nationals on June 13, 2021 in Springfield, Mass.

Though about to enter her 30s, she has no plans to end her playing career just yet.
“I knew I was going to play until the wheels fall off,” Burdick said. “I still will play until the wheels fall off. That’s just how much I love this game. I love it, and that’s why I do it. There’s no other reason. It’s not for money. It’s not for followers. I do it because I truly just love playing.
“And I think people can see that in the way I play and in the way I carry myself, that I love being in the gym. I live it. I breathe it. And that’s definitely helped with my longevity.”
Following her standout career at Butler High, where she won a state title as a junior and was a finalist for the Naismith National High School Player of the Year as a senior, Burdick went on to the storied program at the University of Tennessee, where she played four seasons and was an All-America honorable mention as a senior in 2015.
After being drafted 14th that summer by the WNBA’s Atlanta Fever, her pro career has been nomadic, with stops in the WNBA and overseas.
She’s been able to extend her career in part by embracing 3x3, the new discipline that made its Olympic debut at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and by always trying to be a good professional and teammate, she said.
“That goes a long ways, and people remember how you carry yourself, how you represent the (USA) across your chest, how you treat your teammates, how you talk with your coaches, how you interact with other countries,” she said. “That’s all a part of representing USA Basketball, and I’ve just tried to do that to the best of my abilities.”
Burdick, who is originally from Charlotte, conceded that she has changed on the court over the years.
“I’m a lot smarter,” she said. “I was never always the tallest. I was never the quickest, the strongest. People say I’m undersized for my position or I don’t shoot well enough to be a true three. I’m really that tweener position that can get weeded out in 5x5 but is perfect for 3x3. And that’s also helped with my longevity.
“I study a ton of film, and I wasn’t doing that at 16 and 18 or 19. When I come back to the hotel room, I’m watching games, I’m studying our games, watching the men play. Just trying to be a sponge and learn as much as I can.”
One day, Burdick will likely apply it all to coaching, but not until her body can no longer respond to the rigors of playing the game she loves so much. She will continue to compete in 5x5 overseas in the winter and switch to 3x3 in the summer.
“Something I’m proud of is just probably my resiliency,” Burdick said. “I bounced around the WNBA. I played with eight of the 12 franchises. I joke that I’m like the most wanted unwanted player in the league.
“I’m not going to say all of the experiences were great, but in some way, they’ve helped me grow, they’ve helped me mature, they’ve helped me become a better player, a better teammate, a better leader.”