Ice Cube envisions the Big3 being around for 100 years, and he tells Front Office Sports that now is the right time to take the 3-on-3 basketball league public amid challenges in securing outside capital due to NBA restrictions on owner investment.
The league’s ninth season opened with a bang over the weekend, as a fight led to one-game suspensions for former NBA players Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley. Cube apologized for the incident after the game, although the passion that led to the fracas proves part of his thesis for taking the league public: Big3 is not a novelty act; it’s a competitive league whose players want to win.
“We want guys who still got a chip on their shoulder, who still wanna play basketball against their peers at a high level,” cofounder and CEO Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, told FOS ahead of the Big3’s opening weekend. “We don’t just want your name though, that does us no good. We want your game.”
The league has plenty of big names. In addition to Stephenson and Beasley, players this season include Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dwight Howard and other longtime NBA pros like Derrick Favors, Montrezl Harrell, Corey Brewer, and Mario Chalmers. Founded in 2017, it currently has eight teams with a season that runs through the end of August.
