3-on-3 hoops league kicks off at Barclays
The Big3 is a big mystery. The 3-on-3 league debuts Monday night when FOX Sports will air the first four games. Those games will be played the day before at Barclays Center, part of an eightweek regular season schedule that will travel to different cities. The championship game, which is Aug. 26 in Las Vegas, will be the only game aired live (on FOX).
“I have no idea [how this is going to work],” said Gus Johnson, who will be doing play-by-play for the majority of the season. “I gotta get under the hood. I’ve never called a 3-on-3 game, let alone on national television. I know most of these guys out there, but I don’t know what all the structure is going to look like. We’ll eventually settle into a groove once we see how it’s going. … It’s kind of a mystery right now.”
The league has the potential to be a win-win for both the network and the league. FOX Sports adds elusive programming to the baseball-saturated summer schedule, and the Big3 gets a national television spotlight for all its games to air.
But can the former basketball stars still play?
The league is filled with memorable players from recent decades — Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, Stephen Jackson, Jason Williams and Rashard Lewis, to name a few. There will be big personalities and trash talk, but that alone cannot carry the coverage. The big question is what level the action will be at, since it features players in their 30s and 40s. Monday, 8 p.m. FOX Sports 1
“These guys are getting paid to play, and I heard the money was pretty good,” said Johnson, who will be joined in the booth by former NBA player Jim Jackson with actor/director/angry Knicks fan Michael Rapaport working as the sideline reporter. “They are go- ing to give you everything you have. More than anything, you are talking about former NBA players, and their competitiveness is what got them there. This is on national TV. If them dudes come in out of shape, looking raggedy, they are going to hear it from their boys, their families, their wives and girlfriends.”
The league, which was cofounded by Ice Cube and media mogul Jeff Kwatinetz, held talks with all the major networks, ultimately opting to go with FOX Sports thanks to a shared vision.
That vision is to move the league to an all-live broadcast schedule, ideally next season. This season will be a test to see how the timing of the games work and how best to present the footage in this new format.
The money will not hurt, either. The 40 players in the league will get 52 percent of the revenue share, with the payouts being determined by the standings in order to maximize competitiveness.
“Ice Cube told the players, ‘This isn’t the Generals vs. the Globetrotters,’ ” said Johnson, who is also enthused by the idea that 3-on-3 hoops was just added to the Olympics. “Our goal is to make this real basketball as much as we can. Have fun, but this is also serious. These guys are going to want to win. They are not playing for free. They are getting paid. The more games they win, the better the network does, the more they get paid.”