Absolute Scenes
From Aachen insanity to Shanghai madness, the PRO Circuit keeps spiraling beautifully
We’re not slowing down one bit. It’s still early season, but the tournaments just keep coming one after the other.
Safe to say it was another weekend of awesome 3x3 basketball. This time around I got to hang out courtside in Hamburg for the Challenger while also catching as much of the Shanghai World Tour action as I could. It brought absolute scenes!
My thoughts on it all.
Hamburg Challenger
We set up in the middle of Sankt Pauli for a couple of maximum 3x3 days. 16 teams, favorites mostly winning, but also some upstart performances and a bunch of fun storylines.
Not only that, but I got joined on the broadcast by Skyliners star Leon Fertig. He was originally supposed to hop on for a single game, but ended up staying for almost all of day two. It was cool catching up with him and hearing about his recovery (he might actually be back this season) and even cooler hearing his insights into some of the games and tactical approaches.
I’ll stick with the trusted Good, Bad & Ugly format here.
The Good
Amsterdam (1) → BA changes a lot
The damn ‘Dam picked up a win in Hamburg, and they did it with the same type of balance we saw during last week’s finals run in Zadar.
It really feels like Bryan Alberts changes a lot for this team.
BA suited up for his second straight tournament, and while the offensive production was great (6.2 PPG on 46/44/60 splits), what really stood out to me was how different Amsterdam looks defensively with him on the floor.
Nothing against Maarten Bouwknecht here, who’s a very good player in his own right, but the combination of him and Worthy on the floor together leaves Amsterdam vulnerable at times. They basically have to outscore teams to win, turning every game into a race of whether the twos are falling.
Alberts gives them more sturdiness.
More size. More switchability. More resistance at the point of attack.
With him on the floor, Amsterdam simply looks sharper defensively. The numbers don’t really support it yet because the sample size is still small, but the eye test absolutely does.
And offensively, the balance carried over too.
Worthy was doing Worthy things. Seriously, the man built his own highlight reel on day two.
BA kept bombing away from deep while also adding the midrange late in the tournament.
Van Tilborg converted nearly 75% inside the arc.
Then Jan Driessen suddenly led the team in scoring during the finals against Toulouse despite having a relatively quiet tournament beforehand.
Very good signs for the Dutch heading into the World Cup with this exact roster.
Toulouse (2) → Trending up!!
Toulouse had a rough start to 2026.
Three tournaments played, no finish better than sixth, and generally pretty poor body language throughout.
Hamburg felt different immediately.
The offense finally flowed.
To me, Hugo Suhard was the key. He looked surgical operating out of the pick-and-roll, reading coverages beautifully and almost always making the correct decision.
Add a locked-in Franck Seguela, who ended up leading the tournament in scoring, plus a feisty defense constantly putting teams into foul trouble, and suddenly Toulouse looked like Toulouse again.
The quarterfinals brought more of the same… until Aachen happened.
One of the weirdest games of the season unfolded, with the French storming back from four down in the final minute.
We’ll get to why later.
But regardless, Toulouse did everything they needed to do in order to survive against an unknown but very dangerous opponent.
This feels like a team trending upward again.
Aachen (3) → What the f…
If this wasn’t one of the strangest runs we’ve ever seen on the PRO Circuit…
15th-seeded Aachen started in the qualifying draw. I recognized two names immediately: Kostja Mushidi and Kevin Yebo.
Back in 2021, those same guys somehow came through qualifying at the Lausanne World Tour and beat Novi Sad in pool play.
Granted… that Novi Sad team was a bit Novi sad.
Tamás Ivosev, Dejan Janjić, Marko Milaković, and Uroš Čiča probably weren’t exactly peak dynasty material.
Still, the memory stuck.
In Hamburg, Aachen rolled through both Cibona and Bayreuth in qualifying with surprising ease.
What stood out immediately was the combination of length and athleticism.
They disrupted everything.
Not necessarily through huge block numbers, but by contesting literally everything and forcing opponents into uncomfortable decisions.
At first, I figured a more experienced 3x3 team would expose them in pool play, especially considering Bayreuth was an U19 squad and Cibona already struggled offensively the week before.
Then Toronto ran into the exact same issues, shooting 1-for-9 inside the arc.
Valencia fared slightly better, but couldn’t get the two-ball going and lost in overtime.
Suddenly Aachen came out of day one undefeated and headlined Pool C.
Then they beat Los Angeles in the quarterfinals while grabbing FIFTEEN offensive rebounds.
Fatigue started kicking in though, and the foul count became absurd. That game alone featured 23 fouls.
Still, Aachen carried a four-point lead into the final 45 seconds against Toulouse in the semifinals before the basketball gods finally intervened.
And then… chaos.
They committed offensive foul number 12.
Then picked up a technical for number 13.
Then fouled Djoko on a strip attempt for number 14.
Four-point lead gone.
If that wasn’t enough, the best rebounding team in the tournament then completely forgot to rebound off a missed layup and left Suhard wide open for the go-ahead two.
Aachen finished the game with 16 fouls.
Toulouse had six.
I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.
Still, this was an incredibly fun team to watch figure out 3x3 in real time.
Hopefully they keep this group together heading into Ulaanbaatar, although news already broke that second leading scorer Kevin Yebo signed with Tenerife for the rest of the year.
The Bad
A few teams fit here, so let’s keep it short.
Valencia Basket (12) never really stood a chance. The heavy loss to Toronto meant they needed to beat Aachen by nine, and that obviously didn’t happen. Herrero is badly missed right now.
Utrecht (10) had one job: beat Los Angeles. They were ahead in the final 30 seconds, but lacked the killer instinct to close things out. Too many jumpers against a team already deep in foul trouble. This group is still ironing out the details.
Marijampole MANTINGA (11) usually brings 3x3 IQ, shooting, and toughness. Here they just looked a little old. Gintautas Matulis averaged 7.5 PPG and got basically no support.
Barcelona (8) played like they were stuck in molasses. Endless late-clock heaves, no pace, no energy. This group looks nothing like the 2025 version.
Same story for Cibona (14), who once again struggled badly offensively. They tried to go ultra-physical but simply didn’t have the offensive juice to support that style.
The Ugly
Los Angeles (7) → Stop hacking people
Los Angeles revamped the roster by adding Bryan De Valck and Rafael Wilson. De Valck was present in Hamburg, but the fit still looks awkward.
It’s strange seeing one of the best screeners in 3x3 playing on a team that mostly runs isolation basketball, rarely passes out of screens, and generally doesn’t play in a way that fits De Valck’s strengths.
Maybe that changes with reps and chemistry.
But right now? The offense feels disjointed. Combine that with a defense constantly piling up fouls and you get ugly results fast.
I thought 20 fouls across two pool games was already rough.
Then LA dropped THIRTEEN fouls on Aachen alone, gifting them 10 free throws. In a race to 21, that’s a gamebreaker.
Now, it wasn’t all bad.
I like a lot of the tools Braun and Liebermann bring, and I think film study will eventually show this group when and how to use De Valck properly.
But somebody needs to tell them to stop hacking people.
Other Thoughts
Very solid showing from the German squads overall.
Bochum SPARKASSE (6) actually made it out of the pool and showed a very clear identity. They eventually lost 21-19 to Fuengirola (4) in the quarterfinals in a game tied with 40 seconds left.
Oldenburg (13) exited in qualifying, but Tristan Kuska exploded for 19 points in two games. Definitely keep an eye on him heading into Brasilia.
Also cool seeing Noah Hesselink on a Challenger roster after having him in my gym for U18 national team practices.
Shanghai World Tour
New commentator, who dis?
FIBA 3x3 gave Jamie “Dirk” Diaz Ruiz his shot on the mic for Shanghai.
Honestly?
I thought he did a good job.
Without years of 3x3 experience, it’s hard to immediately recognize all the nuances and tactical details, but he brought energy, personality, and some very solid calls.
“Supica needs it, Supica takes it, Supica makes it!”
And while Jamie was handling things on-site, I was watching from afar as absolute chaos unfolded.
The pools were already messy, with only Antwerp (5) and Shanghai (3) advancing undefeated.
Thanks to some brutal three-way tiebreakers, both DeQing (9) and Skyliners (10) got bounced early.
Then Antwerp lost to Crvena Zvezda (4).
Baskets Bonn (7) took an L.
Liman (6) looked flat against Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy (2).
For a moment it genuinely felt like Ulaanbaatar might repeat history and win Shanghai again, just like they did in 2023.
Coincidentally, that was also with a new-ish commentator, as I was on the mic as a play-by-play for my second ever World Tour.
History didn’t repeat itself though.
Hangzhou Jingwei (1) made the home crowd happy with their first World Tour win since Constanta 2023.
Not through dominance either.
This was a run built on making plays in the biggest moments.
After losing to Sansar M Bank (8) in pool play, they destroyed Skyliners in a must-win game to survive the tiebreakers.
In the quarterfinals they found Supica wide open for an overtime-winning two against Baskets Bonn.
Vidovic exploded in the semifinals against Crvena Zvezda, dropping 8 points while the team forced the young Serbians into 2-for-15 shooting from deep.
Borovicanin took hold of the championship game with huge rebounding and timely shotmaking as Hangzhou beat Ulaanbaatar 19-16.
Not the most dominant tournament win ever.
But definitely one defined by delivering in the biggest moments.
What’s Next
World Cup prep is fully underway.
I’m heading to Warsaw on Sunday for seven straight days of 3x3 madness, and hopefully we get the same magic as last year.
We’ll also have a new Word on the Str33ts episode dropping soon to preview the entire tournament.
And yes, I’ll absolutely be side-eyeing the Brasilia Challenger too.
Events right before the World Cup always produce bizarre fields, weird rosters, and unexpected results.
As for coverage here… I’m still figuring it out.
If I catch enough from Brazil I’ll get an article going. I might also try doing shorter updates every couple of days throughout the World Cup.
Either way, make sure to keep checking in.