I wanted to give us a full night to digest 3v3 before writing because honestly, I had no idea what to expect. And to be even more honest, I was a little skeptical. I’m a 5v5 guy at heart, so when the league decided on this move, I was iffy on it. I like love the drama and the history that comes with 5v5. Comparing seasons to seasons, player to player, similar to any classic sport. But, I think I discounted 1 very important thing when it comes to 3v3.

Fun.

Not everything needs to be incredibly serious and dramatic. We’re still an esport, having fun is a part of job! This isn’t to say that 3v3 is some cutesy little fun thing, it’s not. It’s a legitimate game more with strategy and analysis that is entirely different than 5v5. But, we don’t have 4+ years of historical data to go off of, so the pressure of living up to past results doesn’t exist. We’ve had a couple of 3v3 offseason tournaments…and yesterday. It’s going to take some time for it to grow into the same drama that 5v5 has, I don’t think it would be fair to put them on the same playing field right away. But, after 1 night? It’s a fun product and a great way to get players outside of our drafted players a chance to compete for big cash. For now, that’s enough for me to enjoy.

Let’s do a group-by-group preview, then at the bottom, my good friend Joe Vegas gave us his amateur team power rankings!

Group 1:

Grizz Gaming

Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai

Handlez

Magic Gaming

I feel bad for Magic Gaming. Tough sledding for them in the Tipoff not getting out of the group stage, now in 3v3, they are locked in a group with arguably the two top 3v3 PGs in the league AND Joe’s top-ranked amatuer team. Gallo and BP is must-watch 2K and we get to see the forest, of hopefully many, matchups tonight at 8 pm/et. Handles won the 2K League PS5 qualifier and more recently, the UPA 3v3 invitational, so this team is locked in and ready to go. Fun group, a very good team is going to get left out of the bracket stage.

Group 2:

76ers GC

Basketball Godz

Knicks Gaming

Raptors Uprising GC

More high-end guard talent in this group. 76ersGC and Raptors Uprising square off tonight at 8 as we get to see Fanta make his 3v3 debut in the league against Dre, coming off a crazy game where he scored all 21 points. Basketball Godz features iBall Greens who was once thought of as the potential #1 pick in the draft, but he had to back out, so now we just get him in 3v3. On his team is AnnoyingTV, one of the best influencer 2K players in the world and LoudSent, a very talented player who may find himself in the league one day. Finishing off the group is Knicks Gaming who got swept already by 76ersGC yesterday.

Group 3:

Hawks Talon GC

Heat Check Gaming

Hornets Venom GT

Team Smoke

Finally, a game mode Hawks Talon should reign supreme in! In all seriousness, Ceez is a great 3v3 guard and the team as a whole should win plenty of games, they already took a pretty easy series off Hornets Venom GT. Heat Check Gaming fell to Team Smoke after Mooch, TimelyCook, and one of our women gamers, Mai took them to the sword and beat them in 4 games. Fun group, definitely one to keep an eye on the next 2 weeks

Group 4:

Celtics Crossover Gaming

Dot Squad

NetsGC

Wizards District Gaming

Our final group in the East features Wizards DG and NetsGC coming off 1st round losses in The Tipoff, but luckily for D.C, they have some great coaches, and already took down Dot Squad yesterday. We’ll see CLTX and NetsGC tonight, so jury is out on them still!

Group 5:

Cavs Legion GC

Dreamshakers

Warriors Gaming Squad

Pistons GT

 

A group full of wild cards! I thought Warriors Gaming Squad would be very good at this mode, but Gradient reminded me once again yesterday that counting him out is a foolish thing to do as they got the W over the Dubs yesterday. Cavs Legion had a relatively easy win over the Dreamshakers as well, so this group is very much up in the air.

Group 6:

Glitchy

Kings Guard Gaming

Lakers Gaming

Pacers Gaming

Classic Kings Guard and Pacers Gaming finding themselves in an insanely challenging group. Pacers looked great against Lakers Gaming as Wolf and Vandi went back to their Park roots to pull out the series. The same can’t be said for Kings Guard who fell to Glitchy, the fan team featuring twin brothers known aptly as the 2K Twins. Keep an eye on this group, should be plenty of chaos.

Group 7:

Mavs Gaming

Bucks Gaming

T-Wolves Gaming

Triple Threat

Mavs Gaming and Bucks Gaming can’t seem to get away from each other! Bucks fell to T-Wolves Gaming after Kaii took over the series. Mavs Gaming looked very good as well, KennyZeus and Zayy come from 3v3 so not a surprise to see them winning their first series with ease.

Group 8:

Blazer5 Gaming

DUX Infinitos

Intimidators

Jazz Gaming

Our final group has 4 really interesting teams. Dux made a huge 0-2 comeback against Jazz Gaming to take their first series of the year. You’d think Killeyy would be leading the way, but due to a broken wrist, he’ll be on the sidelines for a while. Blazer5 Gaming is also worth a watch, unguardable with Randomz and Breadwinner defending the back end should make for a tough out in every series.

Those are your groups! My pal Joe Vegas gave us a quick power rankings for our amateur, so check that out below before you go.

Joe Vegas’ Amatuer Team Power Rankings:

1. Handlez
2. Dot Squad
3. Glitchy
4. Basketball Godz
5. Intimidators
6. Dreamshakers
7. Team Smoke
8. Triple Threat