PBA 3x3 set with 16-team, 18-leg debut season

March 12 ------ PBA 3x3 is all but ready to go in its debut season following the release of more concrete details during a league press conference. Scheduled to play before the league's regular 5-on-5 games, PBA 3x3 will have 12 main teams and 4 guest squads competing across 3 conferences, with 18 total legs and 3 grand finals, according to new 3x3 chairman Dickie Bachmann.

Pending approval from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the league's new half-court variant will be played on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm in the same venue as its 5-on-5 counterpart. Depending on the IATF's decision, rosters will be composed of 4 main players and 2 reserves on a closed-circuit, semi-bubble format. If the league goes back to a full bubble format, teams would only get one reserve each. Due to scheduling conflicts, however, the new 3x3 league won't be able to field the Olympic Qualifying Tournament quartet of Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, CJ Perez, and Mo Tautuaa as a single team for now, the same way Chooks-to-Go 3x3 did in their last conference.

The new PBA season is tentatively set to kick off on April 11, with its first conference running for 4 months. Meanwhile, the 3x3 OQT is set to run from May 26 to 30 in Graz, Austria. Regardless, all 4 may join their mother teams' 3x3 affiliates any time, albeit with some restrictions. Per Bachmann, while 5-on-5 players may join 3x3 any time they wish, they can only go back to 5-on-5 play after the current conference is finished. Barring any setbacks, all 12 current PBA franchises are set to field their own 3x3 teams. Meanwhile, the 4 guest teams will be revealed in about two weeks' time after a few final arrangements, according to Bachmann.

Source: rappler.com