Why the United States sucks at 3x3 basketball in the Olympics
There’s no excuse for the U.S. to be so bad at 3x3 basketball in the Olympics.
The United States is the best basketball country in the world, and it still isn’t particularly close. The U.S. men have won seven of the last eight gold medals in the Olympics, and the American women haven’t even lost a game since 1992. Yes, the rest of the world is catching up — there have been six straight international NBA MVPs, with Victor Wembanyama coming — but no other country can match the depth of talent or volume of elite players hailing from the USA.
When 3x3 basketball was announced as an Olympic sport ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games, it figured to be another opportunity for the U.S. to run up its medal count. Instead, the U.S. men didn’t even qualify for the Olympics in the sport’s first year, while the women’s team full of WNBA stars won gold. Both U.S. teams made it to Paris in 2024, but their early performances haven’t exactly been a show of force: the American men and women are each 0-2 to start 3x3 play in humiliating fashion.
The men’s team got drubbed by Serbia in the opener, and then lost Poland — a country that has never medaled at the Olympics in men’s basketball — to fall to 0-2. The women’s team lost to Germany, then fell to Azerbaijan. Both teams still have five games left in the Olympics, but it’s hard to optimistic about their medal chances right now while at the bottom of the group play standings.
How is the greatest basketball country in the world so bad at 3x3 basketball? The answer, of course, comes back to the available talent.
The 3x3 basketball rules at the Olympics state that each team must have two players ranked in the top-10 of their country’s FIBA 3x3 rankings, and two players ranked in the top-50. Players earn points by competing in FIBA-sanctioned events, which happen all over the world, often during the NBA season. Why isn’t the U.S. sending its best cuts from the 5x5 national team — say, Paul George, Jaren Jackson Jr., Jalen Brunson, and Jaylen Brown to 3x3? Well, it’s because those guys aren’t playing in the 3x3 events required to make the Olympic team.
The IOC mandates players participate in 3x3 events to be eligible for the national team because they want athletes to be invested in the sport and take it seriously. The United States just doesn’t care enough to actually try to compete.
The roster for the U.S. men’s team says it all: Jimmer Fredette is the lone recognizable name from his days as a college star nearly 15 years ago. There’s also a recent high school teacher in Dylan Travis, a current Timberwolves front office exec Kareem Maddox, and former Florida guard Canyon Barry. The United States women take 3x3 more seriously with good WNBA players (Dearica Hamby and Rhyne Howard are on the roster, and Cameron Brink was supposed to be before her ACL tear) headlining the team, but they certainly haven’t looked like a serious operation so far in Paris.
The United States simply has no excuse to be so bad at 3x3 basketball, and it shouldn’t be sacrificing Olympic medals because it lacks the structure to put together serious rosters. The men’s side just doesn’t even try at 3x3. Even if the U.S. can’t get current NBA players, it has to find a way to increase the talent pool it’s choosing from for the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. It needs to start identifying players earlier in the process, help get them invested in the sport, and work with them to make sure they’re available for to gain Olympic eligibility.
The women’s team had a good thing going in Tokyo with Kelsey Plum, Allisha Gray, Stefanie Dolson, and Jackie Young. The gap between those guards and their 2024 pick (Hailey Van Lith) is massive. There’s no reason for this kind of talent drop-off with so many talented American players to choose from.
The United States could have an easy path to more gold medals if it took 3x3 basketball seriously. Maybe this is the wake up call USA Basketball needs before the 2028 LA Games, but it never had to be this ugly.