Klaudia Papp is a 5-foot-6 point guard from Hungary who has played her whole pro career both in and for her home country.
Papp has been a 3×3 mainstay for Hungary. Earlier this month, she helped Hungary finished an undefeated 5-0 at the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup Qualifiers in Slovakia. On the professional front, she played for Sopron Basket during the 2025 and 2026 EuroCup Women competitions, in addition to suiting up for Sopron during their short EuroLeague Women stint. In four EuroCup Women games during this most
recent season, she averaged 15.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
But next season, as she revealed to Swish Appeal during our conversation, she’s taking her professional talents outside her home country.
Swish Appeal also talked to Papp about her 3×3 basketball experiences and the places it has taken her, playing with WNBA talents Nika Mühl and Virag Kiss and (responsibly) partying immediately after leaving the hospital. Here are a few highlights:
On playing with Nika Mühl in Sopron:
She perfectly fit into the roster because she’s kind of crazy, but we were crazy as well.
We practiced against each other, of course; she was the main point guard, I was the backup. Sometimes we were teammates in practice as well, to see how we can work as a [backcourt] combo. She was a really nice teammate and a hard worker. She put a lot of effort in each practice. It was really nice to see how professional she can be.
Unfortunately she had these injuries, first with the ankle, and the second one, devastating for everybody, the ACL, and we were really sad for her…But yeah, in general, it was a nice experience to meet her and to work together.
On how 3×3 basketball made her a better 5×5 player:
In my opinion, and I think it’s an obvious thing, 3×3 has all the basic basketball elements that you can adapt and put into 5×5. It’s read and react, making decisions with the three players’ connection and the connection is a basic element in 5×5.
I improved a lot on things like reading the defense and speeding up…I think I’m faster than I was because of 3×3, more aggressive on offense for example, and finding contact on a one-on-one or a layup. I [also] want to talk about the defensive part, [3×3] also made me more aggressive because there’s a lot of one-on-one situations because there’s no help, so you cannot cheat and you cannot be lazy defensively. You always have to be on your opponent to defend in the best possible way, to get through the screens for example.
So, I think I improved a lot in every aspect of 3×3 basketball that I can use in 5×5.
A special thank you to Marco Florio of 13 Basketball Management for arranging the interview.
