Playing 3x3 makes you special, reading about it makes you better
Thanks to all first 10 subscribers, you rock! Remember, we are on X too, and our FB group is missing you as well - let’s discuss 3x3 basketball in real time.
This week these two superheroes beat Superman and again proved that 3x3 > 5x5.
Interesting facts about 3x3 basketball
Another book, another blooming 3x3 community and another news from Ice Cube’s league.
Basics of 3x3 basketball
This time we picked up a book authored by Tristan Lavalette. Basketball 2.0: 3x3's Rise from the Streets to the Olympics is different from the first, historical book about 3×3 by Luka Snoj, which we reviewed a week ago. The first difference is that Lavalette is a journalist and author, while Snoj was until recently an active player playing in the World Tour series. As with Luka, we also managed to contact Tristan, a journalist whose credits include writing for ESPN, Forbes, Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. Something positive must be hovering over the 3×3 courts - the author of “Basketball 2.0” also proved to be a very friendly, open and patient man.
Official website of the book, published by Pitch Publishing, an English sports publishing house, has information on where and how to purchase it.
This book brilliantly captures the atmosphere of 3×3 basketball, both in the streetball and FIBA3x3 versions. It shows the roots, history, process of designing, testing and improving the new Olympic sport. For people who have been accompanying it for ten years, like us, it is simply fascinating. The tidbits, the details, the unknown stories, the perspective of people we've known for years from our screens... that's something you don't have and never have had on the Internet.
The atmosphere of iconic American streetball tournaments of a scale you can't imagine. Entire chapters on FIBA3x3 icons Dusan Bulut, Kyle Montgomery (The Voice), the development of basketball in Mongolia and Romania. A chapter on the BIG3 league. History of FIBA3x3 in the USA. The father of 3×3 basketball, Patrick Baumann and his tragic story. For those deep into the subject, these are passionate stories.
Just a few minor highlights, you'll find a lot more in the book:
FIBA3x3 was initially called FIBA 33.
Back then it was played to 33 points, and the time per action was 16 seconds (later shortened to 14).
Matches were divided into three five-minute parts (thirds?), and points were counted as in 5×5, for 2 and for 3.
The first US team to play 3×3 seriously (well, almost) came from Denver.
3×3 basketball is the most popular sport in Mongolia.
The system of individual player rankings was taken from... tennis.
Interesting, isn't it? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. In one sentence - a great gift and a great read for any streetball geek!
3x3 basketball communities around the world
3x3 Unites was one of the first 3x3 basketball communities in the world, from day one focusing on young players. We truly believe that it is a program, which brought an Olympic gold medal to the Dutch. Thinking long term is the best thinking, also in sports.
BTW: Great movie summarising how the ultimate goal has been finally achieved was released a few weeks ago. Watch “Gold is better“ if you haven’t done so yet:
BIG3
This league is ultra effective in bringing the money to the table. Recent deals announcements are impressive: Starter jerseys, increasing media coverage and the first team sold for 10 million dollars (!). Do you think that anyone in Europe will be ready to buy Ub or Amsterdam for 10 million euros?
But the thing we liked most from all BIG3 recent news is their Young3 project.
FIBA 3x3 World Tour
Pink tournament in Utsonomiya set the tone for the whole week… and possibly whole season.
Week summary
Host Japanese teams lack only one thing: size. They are quick, skilled and smart, but lack of height under the basket is killing them. For the same reason, big 3x3 basketball dogs have bitten Londoners in their debut. Welcome to the party, next time please bring your fourth player and you should be fine.
UB team stays uber alles, at least in Serbia. However, the player who impressed us most (besides Miami team - Hahn, Travis, Parrott and Caruso of course, see below) was Milos Supica (205 cm) from Partizan. “Superman”, as Kyle Montgomery once called him, was extremely effective under the basket - he made 18 out of 22 shots (82%!) and grabbed almost 5 rebounds per game.
One of our favourite players of the whole tour - Mitchell Hahn - seems to be in incredible shape in 2025. Mitch, if you are reading this - let us know how you like your new nickname:
Big Cinnamon became Cinnamon Beast:
But without incredible shooting from Dylan Travis he wouldn’t be able to win the season opener. Captain America’s long shots are simply beautiful:
This time dynamic duo of Cinnamon Beast and Captain America were better than Superman and his supporting Partizans.
#3x3PowerRanking
TOP12 teams in the world, in our opinion. Since the previous one, two teams were added.
Format: position, team, position change, current FIBA3x3 ranking, reason.
Miami, +4, 2, they know how to play, adjust and win!
Amsterdam, -, 4, well-oiled machine always worth(y) watching
UB, -2, 1, strong, tough, precise, deadly dangerous
Toulouse, -, 3, finished exactly 4th in Utsonomiya
Liman, -2, 8, killed by other Serbians, one-two shots short
Raudondvaris, +2, 6, no answer for Pukelis so far
Riffa, +2, 7, very good and very unlucky in Japan
Vienna, -1, 5, Kaltenbrunner used to play better
Partizan, new, 9, nobody wants to play against Supica
Chongming, new, 13, Batman & Robin are back!
Lausanne, -5, 11, new players still on the bench
Ulaanbaatar, -2, 12, but we see them in top 8 in Chengdu
Predictions
This week we have two tournaments in the pro tour:
Challenger in Lusail (Qatar), with Serbian teams Partizan and Liman as main favourites.
Master in Chengdu, where Bonn team can positively surprise, while Chongming and London (assuming the full roster) will be very difficult to beat. Anyway, this time Majstorovic and Stojacic are going to win it all, for sure.
3x3 basketball national teams
The info about expanding 3x3 Olympics to 24 teams is the best thing to happen to the streetball family worldwide. Some federations already started the preparation for LA28.
Busy days for USA 3x3 basketball
Jimmer Fredette, a 2024 Olympian and former No. 1 ranked 3x3 player in the world, has officially retired as a player and became the first managing director of the USA 3x3 Men’s National Team in USA Basketball history.
Just in time to evaluate the result of the 2025 USA Basketball 3x3 Development Camp with some hot names on the lists (both men and women). Let’s see how Miami (actually Omaha) team members will place against some old and new names. We are especially interested to see Bryce Wills and David Ricardo Johnson Jr. back in action.
That leads to the third most important tournament of the weekend: USA Basketball 3X Nationals - national championships for US men’s and women’s 3x3 basketball teams. The 2025 edition will feature 8 men’s and 16 women’s teams.
Women’s Series starts this weekend too
The ladies will play in national colors of their countries as part of the FIBA3x3 WS series, as they do every year. The first tournament will also be played in Chengdu. Defending champions (France) are not playing yet, so the natural candidate seems to be the second team of the 2024 season: Netherlands with Janis Boonstra and Noortje Driessen as leaders. As usual, Chinese and Australian teams will be interesting to watch and very dangerous.
Players to follow
Fabian Giessmann - remember this name and watch the guy carefully! During the last FIBA U23 Championship he was in a class of his own, and his team won the title, beating USA in the final. 72 points in 7 games gave him the title of MVP.
The likeable 19-year-old German continues his march: in 2022 he was MVP of the U17 championship, in 2023 he was MVP of the U18 championship, in 2024 he claimed another title and “only” the MVP of the seniors is left for his collection. It might be just a matter of time...