Could a new 3X3 women's basketball tourney create a pipeline for the Olympics?

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Harmoni Turner is still processing what happened to her in early May.
Turner had been a star at Harvard for four seasons, earning the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award as a senior. She was a third-round selection by the Las Vegas Aces in April's WNBA Draft and entered training camp focused on making the final roster.
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But the Aces waived Turner, the No. 35 pick, just over a week into her first preseason as a pro. She returned home to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. For more than two weeks, Turner didn't set foot in a gym — the hiatus marking the longest non-injury break she'd had from playing. 'I never thought that I'd be in this situation this long, feeling that,' she said. 'This part is heavy.'
She asked herself: 'Is this something I really want to do?' The answer she came to was yes, but she's still working to regain the joy she finds on the court.
Thirteen members of April's draft class were released before WNBA opening night on May 17. A few have subsequently signed short-term W contracts. But more than 30 percent of the players drafted in April have contemplated a similar question. 'When you get waived, you're kinda just like, 'What do we do now?'' Turner said.
Every year, dozens of talented players — even sometimes first-round draft picks — are cut after training camps because of the WNBA's limited roster capacity. Players who are waived usually try to stay in shape through private training or with coaches at their alma maters. Some sign summer international contracts in Mexico, or they might even move on to other careers.
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This summer, there's another chance for players to showcase themselves. More than 20 percent of this year's draft class is scheduled to compete in 3XBA, which is hosting a two-day 3×3 tournament beginning Friday.
Turner and other recently cut draftees such as Shyanne Sellers (Maryland), Destanni Henderson (South Carolina), Grace Berger (Indiana), Christyn Williams (Connecticut), Serena Sundell (Kansas State) and McKenzie Forbes (USC) will also play at the event. Eight teams of four will participate in Spokane, Wash., as part of Hoopfest, the world's largest three-on-three tournament.
'I can't wait to get back to work and showcase my talents,' Turner said. 'No pressure. (It's) back to square one and just see where it takes me.'
Without a WNBA developmental league and with limited WNBA roster space, any chance to showcase skills — if even for a weekend — is a valuable opportunity for players looking to keep playing professionally. Because of the Olympics and Unrivaled, 3×3 basketball is increasingly lauded for its potential to develop the talent pool in the U.S.
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Players competing in 3XBA see it as a chance to stay on WNBA general managers' radars while also working toward Olympic qualification. Though the tour doesn't present itself as an official WNBA development league, it aspires to become a robust and elite year-round professional tour in North America. (It's unlike Unrivaled, which caters to established WNBA players seeking domestic offseason playing opportunities.)
'We aim to be the premier professional 3×3 space, but we can effectively solve for (the lack of a WNBA development league) and create a space that allows for that while also standing alone,' 3XBA co-founder Alanna McDonald said.
Although different in rules and structure — games are 10 minutes, played on a half court and with a 12-second shot clock — than five-on-five, players and coaches experienced in high-level 3×3 competition gush about its impact on player improvement.
'To me, it is the best development tool that I've seen for players of all ages and, in particular, would serve the WNBA very well in that we don't have a developmental league like the NBA,' Washington Mystics coach Sydney Johnson said. Johnson, among other roles, served as the head coach of the gold medal-winning 2023 FIBA 3×3 U-23 men's World Cup team and silver medal-winning 2024 USA 3×3 women's AmeriCup team.
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McDonald, who established a now-defunct professional 3×3 WNBA pilot program, helped start 3XBA last year, recognizing voids in the professional women's basketball landscape. 3XBA's event is FIBA-sanctioned and will provide Olympic qualifying points to participants. The winners also earn a bid to the FIBA 3×3 women's series event in Edmonton later this summer.
A prize pool of $66,000 is available, with the winning team earning up to $23,000, depending on its performance in pool play, with players' take-home earnings split four ways. The fifth- through eighth-placed teams will win a minimum of $3,000. (The total pot is $18,000 more than recent FIBA women's series events, and the winning team could take in $9,000 more.)
Interest in 3×3 continues to grow, which is why 3XBA additionally holds youth camps and clinics. McDonald hopes to strengthen the pipeline for the sport, which entered Olympic competition during the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Johnson said he sees 'strong alignment' between concepts in the WNBA and 3×3. In the latter, players are put in constant action and forced to create and defend in unscripted situations. Players compete at an up-tempo pace and make quick, complicated reads. 'It is very much a 10-minute sprint, or, as we fondly like to call it, 10 minutes of hell,' said former WNBA player Cierra Burdick, who won a bronze medal on last summer's U.S. 3×3 Olympic roster and will play in the upcoming tournament.
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Chicago Sky guard Hailey Van Lith, who played on last year's U.S. 3×3 Olympic team, credits the experience to a jump in her one-on-one defense, passing ability and basketball IQ. Phoenix Mercury forward Kathryn Westbeld, a 29-year-old rookie, used 3×3 competitions (including in 3XBA last summer) to stay connected to the game and develop her one-on-one skills. She would have played in 3XBA's Spokane event had she not made the Mercury's roster.
A day after getting cut by the Dallas Wings, Madison Scott — their No. 14 pick — returned to Oxford, Miss., where she starred for Ole Miss, and decompressed before getting back in the gym. The 6-foot-2 forward aims to become a more versatile player, working on improving her 3-point shot and her basketball IQ from the wing position. She was immediately drawn to 3XBA, after playing 3×3 in USA Basketball competitions throughout college.
'I just want to continue to expand, continue to grow, continue to add stuff to my bag. So that way, when five-on-five comes and my number is called, everything that I've learned from three-on-three, from all my great coaches, all my great teammates, I can translate it to five-on-five,' Scott said.
The WNBA is watching. Upcoming 3XBA competition will be broadcast on the AWSN channel on Pluto TV, and multiple WNBA executives said they will monitor the event. Already, some players who planned to participate in 3XBA will be unavailable because they've signed WNBA contracts.
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'When you're a good three-on-three player, coaches and front-office people can know that you have a high IQ because (there are) so many decisions around you, and they know you got some toughness to you because the game is physically demanding,' Johnson said. 'For you to be good in that format, it bodes well for you to fly over and possibly help out a WNBA team.'
Turner, who also has USA Basketball 3×3 experience, is excited about the opportunity to release the competitive energy she has pent up. Scott is cognizant of the benefits of a successful tournament.
Both said they would love to one day play for the U.S. Olympic 3×3 team, but their focus is on the short term.
'Great exposure — you get to play with amazing players. Who wouldn't want to do this?' Scott said. 'This time cannot go to waste. My plan next year during this time is to be playing on a WNBA team.'
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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