Why the United States Doesn't Dominate 3×3 Basketball

Emily Kaplan, ESPNAugust 4, 2024, 10:00 a.m. ET

CloseEmily Kaplan is the national NHL reporter for ESPN.

PARIS — When the U.S. women's 3×3 basketball team started its Olympic tournament 0-3, Hailey Van Lith was well aware of what people were saying back home.

Fans couldn't understand how America – a country that dominates women's basketball, with a 5-on-5 team on a 57-game unbeaten streak at the Olympics that spans more than two decades – could lose to Germany, Azerbaijan and Australia.

Van Lith's response: None of these people understood how 3-on-3 basketball worked.

“I think the public hasn’t really understood this sport yet,” Van Lith told ESPN. “It’s a tough sport. It’s really brave. It’s for tough guys. You can’t be soft and play.”

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And Van Lith is willing to explain further: “We only play 10 minutes. So if you look at the first quarter of 5-on-5 games, they’re very, very close. And sometimes even the U.S. is down. So it’s a game of who’s in shape. If our shooters don’t make their shots and the other team does, no matter how much better we are, we’re probably going to lose.”

While the Americans have won their last four group games and are now through to the semifinals, where they will face Spain (Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET), the men are 2-4, finally earning their first two wins Friday against France and China.

When 3×3 basketball was added to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, it seemed poised to become another event of American dominance. This funky, street-inspired take on traditional basketball features a half-court, both teams shooting at the same basket, and a 12-second shot clock. It’s a 10-minute all-out sprint, or the first team to score 21 points. The ball is the size of the women’s ball, the weight of the men’s ball, and has grooves that inexplicably force some seemingly easy-to-miss layups—all designed to keep the game flowing and continuous. The Paris court is in the same complex as street sports like skateboarding and breaking—under a blazing sun—and features a DJ and public address announcer who double as the crowd’s entertainer. Coaches aren’t on the bench discussing strategy.

The U.S. women's 3×3 team beat France 14-13. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

While basketball is generally in the hands of the United States, FIBA ​​and the IOC have focused on a more competitive playing field. The U.S. men's team didn't even qualify for Tokyo, though the women's team won gold with a roster of WNBA players. The qualification system is based on points per player and team, rewarding those who play in more tournaments, which typically overlap the WNBA and NBA schedules. There are no similar guidelines for 5-on-5.

In simpler terms: Players have to put in the effort to compete in 3×3. Van Lith, for example, competed in 25 different 3×3 events to get noticed at the Olympics, most of them during his college season, when many of his peers are resting.

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“They’re actually the toughest tournaments because the referees are bad and there’s no one in the stands, so no one’s cheering you on,” Van Lith said. “You get beat up. It builds character, but you have to put in the time. A lot of times I don’t want to fly to Spain to play a tournament for four days and come back. But if I want to be part of this team, I have to make that sacrifice. So that’s the decision I made.”

The U.S. men's team, meanwhile, competes together year-round on the world professional circuit. Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Dylan Travis and Bryce Willis make up Miami's team outside of the Olympic cycle. Fredette, who last played professionally in China before focusing fully on 3×3 starting in 2022, is the player on the men's circuit with NBA experience; he is the top-ranked 3×3 player in the world. At these Olympics, the U.S. was hit when Fredette injured his left leg in the second round match against Poland; he missed their final three games. Teams only field four players.

“A lot of countries and teams have found unique ways to play, which is a challenge,” said Kareem Maddox, a 34-year-old American and former Princeton forward. “Every team you see is going to have a different style, a different strategy. And I think basketball as a whole has gotten better all over the world.”

This eventually led to parity in the sport. While the United States was the highest-ranked 3×3 (combining men's and women's) federation entering the Olympics, non-basketball powerhouses like China, the Netherlands and Mongolia are in the top 10.

The men's roster is a diverse collection of backgrounds. Maddox took a three-year break from his professional 5-on-5 career in Europe to work as a producer for NPR.

The women's team, which features two WNBA players in Derica Hanby (who replaced the injured Cameron Brink) and Rhyne Howard, has another disadvantage: a lack of team experience. The team first came together as a unit at the WNBA All-Star weekend in Phoenix in late July and has had just two weeks of practice since then.

Teams like Canada, which is the best women's team in the world, play together year-round. According to Ron Yeung, Canada Basketball's manager of national development, after the Tokyo Olympics, Canada's 3×3 players (who don't play in the WNBA) committed to specializing in 3×3, and Canada provided them with the tools they needed to improve the program, including strength and conditioning, therapy, video and analytics resources.

“We’re playing professional players in 3-on-3,” Van Lith said. “America is really the only country that hasn’t evolved to that. All these girls are playing, they’re getting paid by their country to play 3-on-3 full time. And in America, 5-on-5 is part of the culture. That’s what we do. That’s our side job.”

“They have such chemistry and such flow that we’re almost trying to catch up. But we’re so talented that we can stay there when we’re not quite there. But I think we’re getting there now.”

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Yeung said North America lags behind many European and Asian countries in 3×3 basketball, especially in terms of the quality of events.

“Looking at other countries, I think we all struggled to find athletes who were willing to commit to the sport and play…once the WNBA and professional seasons in Europe were over,” Yeung said. “For Canada, the success of that team put the sport in the spotlight. Now we’re seeing athletes saying, ‘Hey, we want to try this, can we come to camp and try out?’ We now have athletes choosing 3-on-3 as a pathway for athletes, which gives them options and also allows us to grow the sport.”

For Van Lith, it is also a path towards something different.

Once 3×3 was announced as an Olympic sport, Van Lith focused on getting into the sport. The college star, who recently transferred from LSU to TCU, saw it as a way to get noticed by the U.S. basketball team.

“Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, all those girls, they used 3-on-3 as a way to get into the 5-on-5 team,” Van Lith said.

Along the way, she fell in love with the discipline and the process.

“I would love to play in multiple Olympics in 3-on-3. I really enjoy the game,” Van Lith said. “But I also think it’s a good way for me to improve and continue to progress so that one day I can be on the last 5-on-5 team.”

It's a goal that most Americans would be able to understand.

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