BIG3 a 2nd chance for NBA pros to shine
New season kicks off today at Toyota Center
Ice Cube sat in his hotel room in Atlanta on a Wednesday night in April 2016 after spending the day working on Barbershop: The Next Cut, a film he was producing and starring in. He watched as one of his all-time favorite NBA players, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, scored 60 points in his last career game.
“I was just going crazy,” Ice Cube said. “My wife was (at Staples Center) with (my son), and he had just done Straight Outta Compton, so it was just electric for them in the building. I was just mad I wasn’t there. I was like, ‘Damn. I missed his 81point game and I missed his 60point game.’ ”
Ice Cube was upset about not being able to witness the conclusion of Bryant’s farewell tour in person. He was more upset Bryant was hanging up his jersey at a time he felt was too soon.
“(I’m) like, ‘Yo, why can’t we see this dude continue to play?’ ” Ice Cube said. “Especially after he scored 60 points.
“A light bulb kind of went off
and I was like, ‘(It’s) not just Kobe. There’s a lot of dudes I want to still see play. All they need is a platform.’ They’re out of the game and some of them got out of the game a little too soon.”
A few months later, in January 2017, the BIG3 was born. The league, founded by Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz, is a 3-on-3, half-court basketball league featuring former NBA players.
On Friday, the league will begin its second season by starting at Toyota Center in Houston. The BIG3 will travel to 10 cities — Houston, Chicago, Oakland, Detroit, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas and New York (Brooklyn). Each week, four back-to-back games will be played. The regular season is eight weeks and the four-team playoff will be played in the last two weeks.
Drexler the commissioner
There are eight teams, made up of six players each. All players must be at least 30 years old and have played in the NBA.
“(Retired NBA players) still play,” Ice Cube said. “They still go to gyms and they’re still playing. … (I thought), this could be a way to put players together, where they can play against their peers.”
The first player to sign a contract last season was former NBA All-Star Kenyon Martin. Once Martin committed, other players followed. The rosters were filled with notable names such as Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups, Corey Maggette and Al Harrington.
Ice Cube was more concerned about getting NBA Hall of Famers to coach. He thought the biggest names in basketball history coaching would be the stamp of approval the league needed in its inaugural year.
“That was a big goal for the league, to get people of the right stature in basketball to say ‘This is a pro league,’ ” he said.
A few of the first to get on board as coaches were Clyde Drexler, George Gervin, Rick Barry and Gary Payton. The other four were Julius Erving, Charles Oakley, Rick Mahorn and Iverson, who served as a player-coach.
“What I loved about Cube was his vision,” Drexler said. “(What I loved about Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz) was their openness, their willingness to provide a new league that is player-friendly. Players own a share of the teams and the revenue. The players have the power to pick other players on their team if they’re a captain.”
Last season, there were about 11,000 fans on hand each week. The games were played Sunday nights and tape-delayed to air Monday nights on Fox Sports 1.
Viewership started strong with 400,000 for the first week’s games but never surpassed 200,000 after the second weekend. Still, the players and coaches bought in, and the inaugural season was deemed a success. This season, BIG3 games will be broadcast live on Friday nights on Fox and Fox Sports 1.
“To me, that’s when you’re considered (big-time) sports,” Ice Cube said. “It has to be live. People want to see it live. Sports are meant to be seen live as they’re happening. You don’t want to hear about it.”
Drexler was one of the first to see Ice Cube’s vision. The league promoted him to commissioner after Roger Mason Jr. was fired in March.
“Because I had been a part of it as a coach, I knew how special the BIG3 was,” Drexler said. “I really loved the product. When you come to a BIG3 event, you will leave impressed. If you’re a basketball fan, it’s like a smorgasbord of good basketball.”
A new Olympic sport
Drexler led Power to the playoffs last summer. Women’s basketball legend and Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman was hired to replace him this year.
Other new faces to the league include Nate Robinson, Amar’e Stoudemire, Baron Davis and Metta World Peace. NBA champion Michael Cooper will replace Allen Iverson as coach of 3’s Company.
With time, Ice Cube hopes the BIG3 can become a staple in the diet of sports fans everywhere.
“That’s the goal, to get people (to look forward to the BIG3) like they look forward to the NBA season, like they look forward to the NFL season,” Ice Cube said. “I want them to look forward to the BIG3 season like, ‘The Finals are over, (now) I’m ready to see some of the greats go at it.’ ”
In June 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced 3-on-3 basketball will be an Olympic sport, starting with the 2020 Games in Tokyo. This served as further validation for Ice Cube, Drexler and other league officials that the future is bright for the BIG3.
“We’re right on time,” Ice Cube said. “Perfect timing. Now the world has to take 3-on-3 serious, and they’ve got to take us serious.”