“3×3 is a collaboration between private companies, organizations, and local governments.”

The final round of the NH Bank 2024 KXO League concluded on May 25, with Japan’s Sagamihara once again taking home the title. Sagamihara, who joined the KXO League for the first time this year, showcased the excellence of Japanese 3×3 in the KXO League with the proper role distribution and solid fundamentals of Japanese and European players such as Yuta Kusano, Kenya Igo, Eros Kanichi, and 파워볼실시간 Dejan Popovic.

Sagamihara’s involvement in 3×3 began in earnest last year. Player and owner Yuta Kusano is 27 years old and is active in various fields related to 3×3, including tournament management, organizing, and participating in tournaments, while the Sagamihara 3×3 team is also active on the international stage, participating in the FIBA 3×3 World Tour and Challenger.

Yuta Kusano, who first traveled to Korea last year to participate in the Hongcheon Challenger, will return to Korea for the third time in 2024 as part of this year’s KXO League, and is now comfortable enough with KXO officials to talk about the current state of 3×3 in Japan and how they manage their team.

“We currently have 60 sponsors on the team,” says Yuta Kusano. Three of them are big companies, and the rest are small sponsors. This year, our team’s annual budget is about $580,000 (approximately $770,000). This is a pretty good budget for a 3×3 team in Japan,” he said.

“Sagamihara is a city in the northern part of Kanagawa Prefecture, very close to Tokyo. We are currently sponsored by the Minato Ward of Sagamihara City, in addition to general companies. With the help of general companies and local governments, we are currently building a roster of eight players, including three Japanese and five foreign players.”

Sagamihara, whose organization is far more established than its Korean counterparts in terms of budget and roster, also revealed that there are currently only three teams in Japan that have formal contracts with players and play 3×3, including his own.

Yuta Kusano, who signed five foreign players to strengthen the Sagamihara 3×3 team’s international competitiveness, says, “Our team pays a pretty high salary. In addition, we provide 100% support for daily needs such as housing and meals, which is popular among European players (laughs). Next season, we will be signing Dejan Popovic, who played for Slovakia and Croatia,” said Kusano. ”I decided to jump into 3×3 and prepared hard, but luckily, I met NBA player Tony Kukoc and got to know him. Through that connection, we are now able to sign players from Croatia, Serbia, and other Eastern European countries,” he said, revealing how serious he is about 3×3.

Yuta Kusano’s information about Sagamihara was surprising to hear. Compared to the current state of 3×3 in Korea, the level of support and player composition was staggering. Most of the active Korean 3×3 teams have only club-level support rather than proper support, and most of them have difficulty organizing players.

In fact, Sagamihara has invested heavily to participate in 3×3 international tournaments such as the FIBA 3×3 World Tour and Challenger and has received good feedback from sponsors, so much so that the amount of sponsorship is expected to increase next year, and the team will also participate in the Red Bull Halfcourt World Championship in New York in October.

Yuta Kusano, who has played against Korean players in the Hongcheon Challengers and KXO League since last year, said, “I don’t think Korean players train much. For our team, we train seven times a week. We train every day, and we try to stay together every day. When I played in Korea, I realized that Korean players have good technique, but they are very far away from physical fitness,” he said about his perception of Korean players.

Yuta Kusano, who has just started his own 3×3 business and has a very high vision for the future development of 3×3, says, “3×3 requires cooperation between private companies, organizations, and local governments. For example, if you want to hold a tournament, you can’t do it just because you have the financial resources. You need a great venue that fits the characteristics of 3×3 and a lot of cooperation from the local government. Korea has been very active in organizing 3×3 international tournaments since last year, and I can see that they are trying to raise the level of the KXO League. I hope to work hard with KXO in the future so that we can mutually contribute to the development of 3×3 in Japan and Korea,” he said, adding that he hopes to become a higher-level player and owner through exchanges with Korea.