McCarron to make 3x3 debut at World Cup

Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch McCarron will represent Australia at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Austria next week.

The 189cm combo guard will pull on the green and gold jersey in the 3x3 format for the first time and said he’s excited to play on the world stage.

“It’s pretty exciting, this is something new that I’m not familiar with, but I have watched more and more over the years,” McCarron said.

“I’m keen to go over there and check it all out.”

McCarron, who will leave for Europe this week, said he will be a playmaker for the Australian team, with the 3x3 game all about highlighting mismatches on the court.

“I have to show I can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim, or create to get a teammate open and it’s a completely different type of style of game to 5v5 where you’re forcing rotations.

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“You are trying to expose one match up at a time, so I got to be aggressive.”

The Boomers 2022 FIBA Asia Cup winning captain said the goal was to make the Paris 2024 Olympic team for the 3x3 format.

“This is a World Cup, we are going over earlier to play a lead-up event which will help us, but at the end of the day if you win the World Cup, you qualify for the Olympics,” McCarron said.

“There is another Olympic qualifying event later on this year, but you want to win and qualify straight away.”

Australia start their FIBA 3x3 World Cup campaign with two matches, against the USA and hosts Austria on May 31, then the Aussies will play Slovenia and Latvia on June 2.