3x3 superstar talent Fabian Giessmann sets basketball world alight with 5x5 debut
Fabian Giessmann is one of the biggest superstars in the 3x3 world - being a two-time youth world champion - and now the 19-year-old German has surprised the globe with his successful 5x5 debut.
Any 19-year-old making a debut in the BKT EuroCup would make headlines. But consider the amazing story of Fabian Giessmann - the German prospect who made his EuroCup premiere for Veolia Towers Hamburg on January 8 against Umana Reyer Venice. Giessmann’s debut was his first-ever official game of 5x5 basketball.
I will repeat that again - first-ever official game of 5x5 basketball.
Fabian Giessmann, you see, is a superstar talent in the 3x3 world. The 2005-born Geman already has claimed two youth world titles - the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup 2023 and the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup 2024 - and also was the FIBA 3x3 U17 Europe Cup 2022 champion. And he took home the MVP trophy from all three tournaments.
Giessmann’s name suddenly appeared in the lineup at the bottom of the screen ahead of the EuroCup game. There had been ramblings of him perhaps looking for a team to play for to get some 5x5 experience - given his major goal is to play in the NBA. But seeing “Fabian Giessmann” listed forced at least this viewer to do a double-take.
Giessmann got into the game pretty early and ended up putting together a pretty solid performance. Listed at 2.05 meters, he picked up 2 points on 1/3 shots - 0/1 on threes - to go with 1 assist and 1 steal. He committed 3 fouls and was fouled once for a performance index rating of 0 in 12:08 minutes.
Those stats don’t tell any of the story though. In terms of the game, Hamburg went down by 25 points in the third quarter and ended up trimming the deficit to 9 points in the fourth quarter but could not finish the comeback. Giessmann ended up collecting a +/- rating of +17 - a massive number considering Hamburg lost 90-77 and the next best +/- was +6 from Jared Grey (himself a 19-year-old who played 12 minutes) and Johnathan Stove’s +2 was the only other positive rating in the category on the team.
Giessmann held his own around the basket on defense - especially considering he was facing one of the best big men in the league with Mfiondu Kabengele. The youngster really had to rely mainly on his defensive instincts and didn’t have that much of a chance to show anything offensively. But he also only had five practices with Hamburg before playing in the game.
Robert Birkenhagen was at the Reyer game at the Inselpark Arena. Birkenhagen is one of Giessmann’s coaches on the German national team.
“We are happy that it worked out so quickly and he played. But of course he couldn’t show what he’s really capable of, although I think that he really had impact defensively,” Birkenhagen told TTC.
“I liked the pick and roll defense, quick shows and especially afterwards good orientation in space and the aggressiveness on the perimeter.”
He added: “(Giessmann) was self critical and is eager to improve and adapt to the offensive schemes and spacing. But he’s also very confident that he will learn that quickly.”
Giessmann is not a full member of the Hamburg team. He is on loan to Towers from his 3x3 club St. Pauli - which is located in Hamburg.
But it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Giessmann was solid - at least from a physical standpoint. The Hanover native has a strong build and good athleticism and strength. And he has been playing against adults for years now as part of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour. St. Pauli finished fifth in the World Tour stop in Shenzhen, China in November 2024 after taking eighth place at the World Tour Macau event last October.
Giessmann is the number one 3x3 player in Germany and the number one U23 player in the world. And he currently ranks 51st among all 3x3 players across the globe.
Giessmann also has shown he can dominate guys from the NBA already.
Playing at the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup 2024 in Mongolia, Giessmann along with teammates Denzel Agyeman, Linus Beikame and Leon Fertig beat United States 21-13 in the Final in the capital Ulaanbaatar.
Yes, Giessmann was only 19 years old and playing against players up to four years older than him. Agyeman and Beikame are both 20 years old - born in 2004 - while Fertig is 23 - born in 2001. But Giessmann was the show in Ulaanbaatar. He scored 13 of Germany’s 21 points in the Final and won the MVP trophy.
Who were the players on USA team? John Butler has played 19 NBA games with Portland; Alex Fudge appeared in 6 NBA games with the LA Lakers and Mavericks last season; David Johnson Jr. got into two NBA games with Toronto in 2021-22; and Jameer Nelson Jr is the son of ex-NBA star Jameer Nelson. All four of them were playing in the G-League.
At the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup 2023, Giessmann scored 10 points, including the two crucial free-throws with just a second left in the game in a 20-18 win over France in the Final. Again, he also was named the MVP. He won the tournament along with Simon Feneberg, Tebbe Möller and Sebastian Schwachhofer.
That quartet a summer earlier won the title at the FIBA 3x3 U17 Europe Cup 2022. Less than two weeks earlier in August 2022, Giessmann and Agyeman teamed up with Joshua Günther and Sidi Beikame and finished 8th at the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup 2022.
The world govering body FIBA showed how highly they think of Giessmann last summer when they titled their YouTube video with his U18 World Cup highlights with: “Fabian Giessmann is THE FUTURE 🤯😱🫣”.
The Hamburg game was not Giessmann’s first taste of 5x5 basketball. He actually participated in the Basketball Without Borders Europe camp in Milan, Italy in 2022.
“It means a lot … kind of showing myself and kind of showing 3x3 basketball a little,” Giessmann told TTC’s David Hein for an article on the FIBA website. “It's great because I can show them that I am good. Because most of the time they think I am trash because I only play 3x3. That's not the case.”
Giessmann talked back then about how different the two disciplines are.
“I think it's a great opportunity to show a 3x3 player in basketball. It's kind of tough for me because 3x3 and basketball are a totally different game - a lot of running up and down, up and down. That's not 3x3, which is more like transition basketball, faster basketball,” he said.
Johannes Birkenhagen, Robert’s brother and also a part of Giessmann’s coaching staff, was in Milan for the BWB camp and said Giessmann had a solid performance.
“I think he did pretty well. It was great to see that he is able to compete at the highest level of European youth basketball, even in basketball,” Birkenhagen said. “What stood out the most was his rebounding, especially his offensive rebounding. He was very active on the offensive glass and was able to create second chances, putbacks or provoke fouls.”
The coach continued: “The more challenging part was the aspect of team defense, because the defensive concepts in that regard differ quite a bit from each other. So being in the right spot, especially when defending on the weak side, was definitely a challenge.”
Giessmann spoke two years ago about how much more he likes the 3x3 game, saying: “I like the spacing. Here (in basketball) it's a different game. If I play basketball, obviously there are not a lot of open passes, not that many passing lanes. It's tougher. For me as a big man, in 3x3, I'm setting the screen and then getting the alley-oop pass and dunking it. That's the 3x3 game for me - or I'm getting the post-up and score. Here, I'm getting help-sides and everything else.”
Giessmann has much bigger goals than just playing for Hamburg or in the EuroCup. He wants to play in the NBA and at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Giessmann, Agyeman, Beikame and Fertig narrowly missed out on the 2024 Olympics as Germany took sixth place in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Debrecen, Hungary in May 2024. Giessmann, Agyeman, Beikame and Miles Osei played at the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup - taking 10th place in Austria. And now the goal switches ahead to 2028 in the USA.
And regarding the NBA, Giessmann told NDR: “For me, the dream is the NBA - and that's not possible without a professional career. I didn't grow up with a lot of money, so a well-paid job was important for me and for my mother.”
Giessmann’s mother fled South Sudan (then Sudan) 20 years ago for Germany. He was born shortly after her arrival in Germany. Giessmann, who has two brothers, grew up playing football and only picked up basketball at age 13.
“After a week of training, I said to myself: ‘If I start playing basketball, then I want to go to the NBA,” he told NDR. “I promised my mother and I would like to keep my promise.”
Giessmann’s endeavors on the 3x3 court even gained the attention of one of Germany’s biggest stars: Dennis Schröder.
Giessmann mentioned in the NDR article about Schröder calling him after winning the U23 world title.
“He said that the performance was awesome, that I have a lot of potential and that he sees a lot in me. He said that I can ask him anything, whenever I want.”
Hamburg vs Reyer is just the start of a new world for Fabian Giessmann. And Fabian Giessmann is a new player to watch for that new world.
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