3x3 Rankings: All you need to know

World 3x3 basketball revolves around a FIBA ranking system that determines which competitions each national federation can qualify for, based on pro team and individual performance levels.

It is essential for GB Basketball to ensure it maintains a high ranking to compete in the elite-level competitions and grow the game.

This is a step-by-step guide to understanding the 3x3 FIBA Ranking System and how GB Basketball work with the pro teams London and Manchester 3x3 to sustain their position.

It all begins at the player level.

• Each player receives a FIBA 3x3 Individual World Ranking generated from points they earn playing in FIBA-endorsed tournaments.
  
• Points are calculated from the results of the best nine tournaments a player has taken part in over the last 12 months.
  
• The tournaments themselves are ranked by their prestige and difficulty, meaning higher-ranked competitions will reward players with higher points totals. The highest-ranking Pro Events include World Tours and Challenger tournaments, and are rated based on a 0-10 colour-coded system.

Points are calculated via the following metrics:

• Final Standings: How a player’s professional team, like London 3x3, fares in the tournament.
• Win-Before-Limit: 3x3 games finish when a team reaches 21 points, or 10 minutes of gameplay is completed, whichever occurs first. FIBA tally the total leftover time of each pro team’s five fastest games won before those 10 minutes are completed and adds this score to the calculation.
• Individual Scoring: The player’s top five scoring games.
• Other Significant Individual Statistics: FIBA record a variety of in-game actions dubbed highlight stats. They use each player's top five scoring games in any of these highlight stat categories to add to their points total. Highlight stats include dunks, drives, key assists, blocks, buzzer beaters, and top five rebound games.
• Individual Shooting Value: All of these statistics in each event are multiplied by the player’s Shooting Efficiency, which refers to the ratio of shots made to shots attempted. This is based on five games, and an average is taken if the tournament is shorter/longer.
  

FIBA 3x3 Team Rankings are calculated based on the individual rankings of players within the team.

Men’s Team Rankings

Men’s team points are derived from the higher of the following two metrics:

• The sum of the ranking points of the three highest-ranked players on the team
• The sum of the Collective Points of the best 7 Pro Events played over the last 12 months. Collective Points for a single Pro Event are the sum of the points earned by the players who were on the Event Roster (up to six players).

The rankings generated from these points are then used to directly qualify a certain number of top teams to a selection of World Tour events, bypassing qualification tournaments. Team rankings also provide preferential allocation to Challengers.

Women’s Team Rankings

Women’s team points are derived exclusively from the sum of the ranking points of the three highest-ranked players on the team’s Extended Roster.

These teams must be registered for the FIBA Women’s Series season for this to apply.

Teams taken from the Nations League will begin with zero ranking points until they submit their Event Roster for their first Women’s Series competition.

GB Basketball, as a national federation, require ranking points to qualify to the major tournaments.

FIBA 3x3 Federation Rankings are calculated based on the sum of the ranking points of the top 20 players registered to the nation’s federation, with a confirmed FIBA 3x3 profile. This includes both men and women, as well as youth players.

GB Basketball is currently ranked 44th in the world with 214,917 total points. Ashley Hamilton is the highest-ranked British player, at 115th, with 149,492 points. GB Basketball began their 3x3 programme in 2024, and since then, Hamilton has risen from 1064th to 155th.

For a more in-depth depiction of the ranking system, refer to the FIBA 3x3 Ranking Full Guide.