Streetball and music - always together
Asia, Europe, Americas - we got you covered, again.
Intro
Fifth edition - time flies! Let’s celebrate a little bit and sing a song:
Thanks to all readers, especially subscribers! If you appreciate our work, please share our publication. Remember, we are on X too, and our FB group needs more heated discussions!
Interesting facts about 3x3 basketball
This section today is probably most interesting to the students - you can watch the movie, play in tournament during summer break or schedule your summer internship in sunny Italy ;)
Streetball music
If you don’t like our intro, here are some streetball music video clips that every 3x3 player should know. FIBA3x3 approved.
World Tour 2017 Anthem:
World Tour 2023 song:
Let us know if there is another nice, streetball piece of music all 3x3 players should sing.
3x3 basketball communities around the world
What is the biggest 3x3 basketball league in the world? 3X3.EXE Premier, founded in Japan in 2014, as the world's first professional 3x3 basketball league. It's now the largest globally, spanning 5 countries with 96 teams! Many top world players spend there European off-season playing for local teams. Here you can see the final day of the latest edition, featuring e.g. Lausanne and Hangzhou teams:
BIG3
We know the rosters for season 8th:
Boston Ball Hogs - Kevin Murphy, DeShawn Stephens, Scotty Hopson, Jonathon Simmons, Chris Johnson
Chicago Triplets - Montrezl Harrell, Kemba Walker, Jason Richardson, Chris Allen, Amir Johnson
Dallas Power - Greg Monroe, Glen Rice Jr., Paul Millsap, John Millsap, TJ Cline
Detroit Amplifiers - Jeremy Pargo, Darnell Jackson, Joe Johnson, Ray Nixon, Shakur Juiston
DVM Trilogy - Earl Clark, Isaiah Briscoe, Isaiah Austin, DaJuan Summers, Franklin Session
Houston Rig Hands - Gerald Green, Corey Brewer, Garlon Green, Jaylen Johnson, Javier Carter
Los Angeles Riot - Dwight Howard, Jordan Crawford, Elijah Stewart, Jeff Teague, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young
Miami 305 - Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, Reggie Evans, Sean Williams, Lance Stephenson
And… we think BIG3 players should be considered as candidates to USA 3x3 national team (explained below).
FIBA 3x3 World Tour
Three big tournaments! We know it is hard to follow everything during the weekend, so here is a carefully chosen collection of games. There were the most interesting ones, but it doesn’t mean that the others were boring.
Week summary
Amsterdam Master - the French from Toulouse actually won it twice, so the victory is doubly deserved. The MVP of the tournament, Paul Djoko is the type of player who, when others don't get their way, just takes the ball and plays 1-on-1. His speed and jumping ability are a problem for everyone. This has made the Toulouse team more versatile and unpredictable. Congratulations!
Team of the week? Young Serbians (20 years in average) from Vracar:
The second stop of this year's Women's Series ended exactly the same as the first, that is, with an emphatic victory for the Dutch women. Even in the final, playing against a very strong Canadian team, they won high, although the match was balanced for a long time:
Challenger in Xi’an (Chinese city, 3000+ years old, known from Terracotta Army), won by Chongming team, should definitely add few teams to your radar. First of them is Marijampole (Lithuania), here against future winners:
Secondly, Chinese and French teams, not yet top ones, but also a fun to watch:
#3x3PowerRanking
TOP17 teams in the world, in our opinion. Since the previous one, one team (from Puerto Rico) was added.
Format: position, team, position change, current FIBA3x3 ranking (May 22th 2025), reason. This week was pretty quiet, so we comment the changes only.
Toulouse, +2, 2, Stormers took Amsterdam by storm.
Amsterdam, -1, 3, losing at home hurts.
Miami, -1, 4, James Parrott urgently needed.
Raudondvaris, -, 6, they took a break.
UB, -, 1, regrouping and training.
Liman, +1, 7, Zigon gives them new life.
Hangzhou, +1, 15, almost at Liman level
Vienna, +1, 5, statement win against Riffa.
Riffa, -3, 8, surprisingly, 0/2 in Amsterdam masters.
Chongming, +1, 10, 5/5 in Xi’an challenger.
Partizan, -1, 9, unusual 1/3 in Xi’an challenger.
Ulaanbaatar, +1, 13, Anand Ariunbold is gooood!.
Lausanne, -1, 13, two so-so games in Amsterdam.
Shinagawa, -, 23, unlucky week, two minimal loses.
Utrecht, +1, 17, stronger than you think.
Carolina, new, 16, definitely fun to watch.
London, -2, 11, didn’t play.
Predictions
Two tournaments in Marseille - men and women. What’s our take?
Women’s Series - no more easy wins for Netherlands. They play great this season, but if they meet Spain, USA or France (supported by home crowd) - everything is possible. Our hearts are with Polish team of course, after 3rd place in Amsterdam hopefully they can make some surprises here.
Marseille Masters - Toulouse has a big chance to repeat success in Amsterdam, and probably even a bigger pressure. Not an easy task, with Ub being back after some rest, Amsterdam looking for Paris Olympic final game sequel and Chongming on a roll. Miami plays without Mitch Hahn and may therefore lack some size. Vienna and Utrecht are always dangerous, too. Our bet: Toulouse vs Ub in grand final.
3x3 basketball national teams
Some not-so-good news plus (hopefully) constructive feedback.
Some federations needs heads-up
We think it is still early enough to react, but also late enough to say that some national teams are not where they usually were. Here is the list and some hints how to realize their huge potentials before it is too late. Currently, the federations showing some troubles are:
USA - they can take all the top 10 places in our power ranking, but for some reason they have only one team (Miami) competing at World Tour level. The Phoenix team’s appearance in Xi’an Challenger was a disaster. It’s hard to beat NBA dreams, but maybe the way to success leads through the veterans? Lasmanis and Bulut played against and with them in BIG3 and never dominated… BIG3 players still have it.
Poland - historically strong, recently big unknown despite the World Cup 2026 in Warsaw announced this month. New opening is needed? U23 and women teams are still looking healthy and strong.
Canada - just compare their 5x5 and 3x3 national team rosters and rankings. Unbelievable. They may have the same systemic issue as USA. If so, we propose to look at UK as an example, instead of copy-pasting from the south.
Slovenia - as above, it’s a shame they don’t have a 3x3 equivalent of Luka Doncic. Guys, just follow Serbian steps and everything will be fine.
These were just half-serious, quick-win life-hacks. For serious, long term strategies look at the data below.
FIBA 3x3 youth federation rankings
Which countries treat 3x3 basketball seriously? Where are the future winners of FIBA3x3 World Tour, World Cup and Olympic Games? Here is the answer:
There are only 5 teams present in both top 10s: Germany, France, China, Japan, Latvia and Netherlands.
GOAT
Do you know who is the Greatest Of All Time 3x3 player? Some of you for sure do, but younger FIBA3x3 fans might not know… And the music and BIG3 reminiscenses above made us really, really miss this guy. Dusan Bulut - still the best player in 3x3 history:
Take care and don’t forget to hoop a little bit during the weekend!