US women’s 3x3 basketball tips off today: here’s everything you need to know

The women’s 3x3 Olympic basketball team — comprised of Hailey Van Lith, Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, and Rhyne Howard — tips off pool play today at 11:30am ET vs Germany. Games will be played all week, with Olympic play culminating in the medal games on Monday.

Here’s everything you need to know about this new form of basketball — and America’s chances of medalling.

3x3 basketball is a whole different ball game (no pun intended). Each team has four players (three on the court, one substitute) and games are short — played for up to 10 minutes with a 12-second shot clock.

The first team to score 21 points, or whoever is ahead at the 10-minute mark, is victorious — whichever happens first.

Scoring is kept differently in 3x3; three-point field goals are worth two points, whereas two-point field goals are worth one point. So, three-point shots end up being disproportionately impactful. A free throw is also worth one point, and once a team has fouled six times, fouls 7 through 10 result in two free throws.

The environment itself is also unique — the game is played on an an open-air half court. Though it’s half court, the pace can actually make the game more rigorous.

“I think you have to be more mentally tough in 3x3 than you are in 5-on-5 because there’s less time,” Howard said in an interview with USA Basketball. “You’re working, like you don’t stop working, there’s no breaks, there’s no possessions where you can just go and stand. You have to be able to think while you’re tired, you have to be able to make quick decisions for yourself and everybody and try to get the best out of the circumstances that you’re in.”

Who’s on the roster?

The U.S. 3x3 roster includes four players:

Hailey Van Lith is the sole collegiate athlete on the team (and at 5’7, she’s also by far the smaller). She spent the first three years of her career as a star guard Louisville before transferring to LSU ahead of last season. Van Lith has a decorated 3x3 resume — last year, she was a member of the squad that won the 2023 FIBA 3x3 World Cup gold medal, and in 2019, she was the MVP of the Under-18 World Cup that won gold. Though she’s the youngest player on the team at 22 years old, her experience playing 3x3 is invaluable.

Cierra Burdick spent five years bouncing around the WNBA before continuing her professional career with the Valencia Basket Club. Burdick, a 6’2 forward, was drafted 14th overall in 2015 after four solid years at the University of Tennessee.

The 30-year-old has been playing 3x3 for over a decade decade, first joining the U.S. World Cup team in 2014. That unwavering dedicated and experience helped secure her roster spot at the Paris Olympics.

Dearica Hamby was not initially selected to the team after attending training camp, but was called up after Cameron Brink, who was initially slated to be on the roster, tore her ACL last month. The call-up is timely; the 30-year-old, in her 10th WNBA season, is having a breakout year, averaging 19.4 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.6 assists — all career highs.

Brink was a member of the 3x3 program that won gold at the 2023 World Cup, but Hamby, also has significant experience playing this format of basketball. She was named the MVP of the FIBA 3x3 AmeriCups in 2023, where the U.S. won gold.

Rhyne Howard was drafted first overall in 2022 after an illustrious career at Kentucky. The 6’2 guard quickly adjusted to the WNBA — being named Rookie of the Year and an All Star in each of her first two seasons. A natural scorer, Howard can create her own shot with ease, and as a taller guard, she can also match up against bigger players, which is particularly important in 3x3. She’ll likely be one of the primary offensive weapons on the roster.

The short answer is not necessarily.

While the U.S. 5x5 basketball team hasn’t lost an Olympic game since 1992, the 3x3 program hasn’t been nearly as dominant. That’s largely because 3x3 is a young sport that other parts of the world have embraced more.

Since the sport officially debuted in 2012, the results have been mixed — Team USA earned the gold in 2012 and 2014 and bronze in 2016, but failed to medal in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022. The 2022 U.S. 3x3 team, which both Burdick and Van Lith were on, lost in the quarterfinals to Canada. However, Team USA — made up of Kelsey Plum, Stefanie Dolson, Jackie Young, and Allisha Gray — did win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the inaugural Olympics for the sport.

The sport has been more popular in Europe and parts of Asia than it has been in the U.S, and the brevity of the games increase the likelihood of upsets.

Part of what makes winning difficult is that 3x3 ends up being a completely different game than 5x5 from a schematic sense, Burdick said in an interview with USA Basketball.

“I look back at my first World Cup in 2014 and think about the World Cup that we played last year…we won in 2014 off of pure athleticism and skill that wouldn’t win nowadays,” Cierra Burdick said. “Now with 3x3, there’s so much scheming and strategy that goes behind it and that’s just a testament of the growth and the development that we’ve seen over the years in the game.”

Still, the U.S. is a favorite to medal, though China is currently ranked first overall, per FIBA rankings.

There are eight teams in the 3x3 field: Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, France, Germany, Spain, and the US. The U.S. will face each of the other seven teams in pool play games, with the top two teams advancing to the semifinals. Teams that place third through sixth compete in a play-in round to secure the other two semifinal slots.