Silver in Warsaw
Giessmann turned 21 barely a week before the FIBA 3×3 World Cup tipped off on Warsaw’s Parade Square on 1 June. Germany swept through pool play unbeaten and into the quarter-finals.
They had done it with a mix of force and discipline. No team in Warsaw produced more dunks, with 16, and none conceded fewer than Germany’s 15.3 points per game. Giessmann was central to both ends of the court.
By the end of the tournament, he had finished third in scoring with 52 points across seven games, shooting 76 per cent from inside the arc. His 11 dunks led the field, his six blocks ranked second, and he committed just five turnovers all week.
For Giessmann, the biggest adjustment from the junior game has less to do with athleticism and more to do with understanding the flow of the game.
“It’s more physical, definitely,” he said. “But you notice players have just so much more basketball IQ. That’s like the biggest thing, because they just know what they’re doing.”
Ahead of the knockout rounds, we asked him what a first world title would mean.
“Obviously I just turned 21, so hopefully I’ve got a few more years left in me,” he told us. “But with this team, the way we’re doing it right now, it would probably be the greatest moment of my career.”
Germany came close. They edged Austria 21-19 in the quarter-finals and France 19-18 in the semi-finals before Latvia beat them 20-15 in the final on 7 June. The defeat still brought a landmark result: Germany’s men won their first World Cup medal.
Giessmann has barely slowed down since. With his club side, 3×3 Baskets Bonn, he was named MVP as the team won three straight World Tour titles in Amsterdam, Lausanne, and Debrecen — winning every game they played across the three.
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