Ice Cube and Roger Mason, along with some investors are creating a 3-on-3 basketball league, featuring retired NBA players. The BIG3, which is the title of the league, will launch this upcoming summer.
The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski has more details on the league:
Plans include eight teams of five players – including an ex-player as coach, as well as a team captain – that’ll tour together from city to city starting in late June.
So far, retired NBA players Kenyon Martin, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O’Neal, Rashard Lewis and Jason Williams are some of the players committed to play on teams, league officials said.
During an interview with the Vertical, Ice Cube expressed his reasoning for starting the league.
“I thought of this concept as a fan who got sick of seeing his heroes retire and not play anymore,” Ice Cube said. “A lot of these guys can still play once they retire – just not the back-to-backs or four games in five nights.
“I started to look at three-on-three basketball and wondered, ‘Why isn’t this played on a pro level?’ It’s the most normal form of basketball. And from there it was like, ‘Yo, why don’t we make this happen?’
“Not only do we get a chance to see these guys keep playing, but we give guys who retired who still got some game – who don’t want to pick up a [microphone] on TV and who don’t want to go overseas to play … some of these guys still want a stage to play on.”
The goal of the BIG3 is to showcase the skills of these retired players in a half court setting, without running up and down the court. There will be games for ten straight weeks, touring cities across the country.
Imagine some of the players who are still in amazing shape, that could potentially participate. Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, and Kobe Bryant just to name a few.
Stay tuned as more details will surface about the league.
