Basketball has been a distinctly American sport ever since James Naismith made the fateful choice to hang a peach basket on the wall at a YMCA training school in western Massachusetts in 1891.
Whether it’s in the NBA, college, or international competition, the sport is primarily perceived by fans in the US and around the world as a five-on-five match.
But the format is different at the Olympics.
Often abbreviated as 3×3 basketball, three-on-three basketball is a relatively new Olympic sport, having made its debut in the 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021. It is returning to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where both the men’s and women’s teams from the United States will compete.
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The rules, pace, and strategy of the 3×3 game are very different from those of five-on-five basketball, even though millions of American viewers of the Olympics have played the sport for years.
What you need to know about 3×3 basketball includes the format, rules, and the rosters of Team USA competing in France for gold medals:
3×3 basketball court size, dimensions
The size of the playing surface is one of the many distinctions between three-on-three and five-on-five basketball.
3×3 basketball is played on a smaller court that is 36.1 feet long by 49.2 feet wide, with a single hoop at one end and an end line on the other. Traditional five-on-five basketball is played on a 94-foot-long court.
The arc behind which players can get an extra point for a made shot is the same, at 22.1 feet from the hoop’s center, despite the different point values.
Why is 3×3 basketball halfcourt?
The court does not need to be nearly as large as it is for five-on-five basketball because there are four fewer players on the floor at any given time (two for each team).
Some viewers of the Paris Olympics may find this setup to be rather familiar because pick-up basketball, which is where 3×3 basketball originated, typically only consists of halfcourt play, with players bringing the ball back to the top of the key in between possessions.
Rules for 3×3 basketball
Both three-on-three and five-on-five basketball share many of the same fundamental rules, such as those governing ball handling, and the court’s features, which include a lane, a free-throw line, a 10-foot rim, and a semi-circular arc behind which players can attempt to make a shot worth an extra point, are similar.
Beyond that, there are some obvious, even startling, differences between the two sports.
In 3×3 basketball, as the name of the sport suggests, teams are limited to three players on the court at once. Additionally, each team is only allowed one substitute, making their roster of four players one-third the size of an Olympic five-on-five basketball team. Additionally, there is less formality in the substitutions; players merely tag in during a dead ball instead of going to the scorers’ table.
The ball used in 3×3 basketball is slightly smaller than that of five-on-five basketball, measuring 72.39 centimeters in diameter as opposed to 74.93 centimeters, and weighs 620 grams, the same as the balls used in FIBA-sanctioned competition.
A defensive rebound, steal, or block gives the defensive team possession back. Before their team can try to make a shot, a defensive player who gets the ball inside the arc must dribble it out or pass it to a teammate outside the arc.
In 3×3 basketball, there are additional scoring differences as well. Shots inside the arc are worth one point, while shots outside the arc are worth two. Similar to five-on-five basketball, free throws are worth one point.
How long is a 3×3 basketball game?
3×3 basketball has considerably shorter quarters than the four 10-minute ones that are mandated by the FIBA.
The game is won by the first team to 21 points. The team with the most points is deemed the winner if neither team reaches that mark in the 10 minutes allotted for the game. In that case, there is an overtime period if the teams are tied. The team that started the game on defense will have the first possession of the extra period and will win if they are the first to score two points.
Similar to its five-on-five equivalent, three-on-three basketball has a shot clock as well, but it lasts for only 12 seconds—half as long as the official 24-second shot clock used in NBA and FIBA competition.
3×3 basketball Olympics winners
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the sport made its Olympic debut. The United States won the women’s division with a team that included four WNBA players: Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Allisha Gray, and Stefanie Dolson. Latvia won the gold medal in the men’s division. Plum and Young, two members of that American team, are currently competing for Team USA in the five-on-five basketball competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Team USA 3×3 basketball rosters
After missing out on qualifying three years prior, the Americans will be competing in the men’s 3×3 basketball event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, while the women will attempt to successfully defend their gold medal, albeit with a completely different squad.
While Jimmer Fredette, a former national college player of the year and NBA lottery pick, leads the men’s team, the women’s team is led by two active WNBA players: Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream and Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks.
The following lists the men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball rosters for Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, along with the player’s heights:
Men
- Jimmer Fredette, 6-foot-2
- Dylan Travis, 6-3
- Canyon Barry, 6-6
- Kareem Maddox, 6-8
Women
- Hailey Van Lith, 5-9
- Rhyne Howard, 6-2
- Cierra Burdick, 6-2
- Dearica Hamby, 6-3
