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The BIG3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube is putting down roots as it expands with home teams in Miami and Houston.
As the seventh season of the BIG3 three-on-three basketball league featuring former NBA, collegiate and international players created by Ice Cube is underway, it’s expanding to include two new teams in a traditional city-based format. The 12-team league usually plays in a barnstorming format during the summer – last season, the league played games in Chicago, Dallas, Brooklyn, Memphis, Miami, Boston, Charlotte and Detroit. Miami is one of three cities that will have a dedicated team, along with the cities of Houston and Los Angeles.
Houston’s BIG3 franchise was announced in a post on Instagram Thursday (July 4). Energy executives Eric Mullins and Milton Carroll were named as owners of the franchise. The news comes weeks after an investor group led by hospitality executive Heath Freeman secured their franchise in Miami for $10 million. The first city-based franchise will be in Los Angeles after a deal was struck with the DCB Sports investor group for $10 million. All three franchises are set to begin play next season. Ice Cube spoke about the move in a post on Instagram when the Los Angeles deal was announced in May, writing: “We need to plant our roots in cities so we can be more than a rolling all-star game coming through. It’s really about growing the sport and the league.”
“We can plant our roots in these cities,” the “Jackin For Beats” rapper stated about the moves in an interview with the Athletic. “It is great to come through with, like, a rolling All-Star event, but if you want to really unlock the fan-base potential, connecting to cities does that.” BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz agreed with the veteran rapper’s position in the same interview. “We do things in the cities when we go there,” he said. “We do the Young 3 and try to get involved with a lot of youth organizations and charities. The truth is that you can only do so much, you know, dropping in a city for four days than you can if you have a team rooted in the city.” The move is the latest from the league, coming after the extension of an offer to women’s college basketball phenom and current Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark to sign with the league for $5 million instead of going to the WNBA.
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Ice Cube made waves by offering University of Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark $5 million to play up to 10 games in the Big3, which would certainly shift things for the popular 3-on-3 league. Ice Cube says that as of now, Caitlin Clark has yet to respond and even said he’d move things around to not interfere with the WNBA schedule.
Ice Cube sat down with The Pat McAfee Show to share the finer points of the deal and how he hasn’t heard back from Clark presumably because the Hawkeyes are in the middle of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. As Cube explains, Clark, 22, can earn major coin for just 10 weeks of play within the Big3 and he realizes it’d be a big boost for the league he co-founded.
Clark is no doubt going to be a top selection heading into the 2024 WNBA Draft, in which the Indiana Fever owns the top pick overall. Considering Clark’s massive star power and ice-cold game on the court, the Fever’s choice should be a no-brainer.
Check out Ice Cube breaking down his offer to Caitlin Clark with Pat McAfee below.
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United States Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the possibility that the NBA engaged in an intentional effort to tank the Big3 basketball league founded by none other than West Coast Hip Hip icon Ice Cube.
According to TMZ, the inquiry into allegations that the NBA used its power to curb the growth and progress of the much smaller league was actually launched months ago. Basically, the pro league is accused of pressuring sponsors, investors, TV networks, players and even referees from getting involved with Big3, which is basically David to the NBA’s Goliath and was never very likely to produce even remote competition for the multi-billion dollar basketball league.
From TMZ:
Some current players have expressed a desire to play in Cube’s league in the offseason, but we’re told, as the Big3 sees it, the NBA has prevented guys from doing so, putting arbitrary rules in place to stop players from hooping in Ice’s league.
FYI, the NBA and Big3 seasons do not overlap.
Of course, it’s a regular occurrence for NBA players, including some of the biggest stars in the world like LeBron James, to hoop in non-NBA games after the season ends … such as L.A.’s famed Drew League.
Big3 officials, according to sources familiar with the investigation, believe they’ve been unfairly targeted by the NBA.
We’ve also been told NBA owners have been discouraged from investing in the Big3 while simultaneously owning a franchise.
Referees haven’t been immune, either, according to a source … who says they’ve been told they cannot officiate for the Big3, despite some working for other organizations outside of the NBA.
Again, if these allegations are true, it’s a lot of effort to go through for an established league that generates billions in revenue and already has other, much smaller leagues to “compete” with that it hasn’t been accused of trying to kill. Still, sources told TMZ that Cube and his BIG3 co-founder, Jeff Kwatinetz, met with DOJ attorneys earlier this year, and that those lawyers have reached out to NBA officials as part of the investigation, which indicates that the inquiry is being taken pretty seriously.
In response to the allegations, NBA spokesman Mike Bass told TMZ that the “claims are not true,” and that the NBA has actually “been supportive of the Big3 since its inception, but we declined to invest.” Cube appeared to dispute that part on X Tuesday saying, “BIG3 never asked the NBA to invest, we just want them to stop pressuring individuals and corporations not to invest in the BIG3.”
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Ice Cube is firing back at social media critics taking him to task for apparently being chummy with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a recently posted photo.
The Hip-Hop icon and businessman has come under scrutiny after the son of the slain Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy was in attendance at the BIG3 Basketball event held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Sunday (July 9th). The Democratic Party presidential candidate and his campaign manager, Dennis Kucinich posed for a photo with Cube afterward which was shared to Twitter. “@Dennis_Kucinich and I spent a wonderful evening with one of our country’s most influential and outspoken civil rights leaders @icecube!”, the caption read.
The photo didn’t sit well with people online, who immediately voiced their displeasure at the West Coast legend being in a picture with Kennedy, who has been a notorious anti-vaxxer and COVID-19 denier. They also had jokes for the 69-year-old Kennedy calling him “a civil rights legend.” But it didn’t take long for the “Steady Mobbin’” rapper to issue his own tweet in response. “For all the simple minded short bus people out there. A picture is not an endorsement, dummy. Now get your ass over to bungalow 51 and STFU,” he wrote.
One fan directly wrote to Ice Cube expressing disappointment: “My brotha ice cube, I’ve been listening to you since 1993 you went from arrest the president, fuk the police, straight outta Compton, the list goes on,” they wrote. “I’m highly disappointed in you brotha, what’s your mission? Because of you I still rep the West pls tell me your not selling out.” Ice Cube’s reply was fiery: “Sellout? I work for myself. I’m self-made. How do you feed your family??? How much do you sell your time for per hour on your job?”
The AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted artist did garner some support from fans as well as from his peers, such as Chuck D of Public Enemy who tweeted out a sketch of him, writing: “Know this fact. @icecube has gone into every one of these ‘industries’ many of the masses worship… on HIS own rule and as his OWN MAN. A game that’s twisted many into demise. Not him. Know that. Seen the same dude since the day I met him. He KNOWS who he is. Know who YOU are.” Cube replied by quote-tweeting, “Thanks Big Bruh.”
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Ice Cube and his BIG3 basketball league will be the subject of a newly announced documentary series produced by him and a veteran awards producer.
According to reports, the veteran rapper will be producing the not-yet-named documentary series through his Cube Vision production company along with Jesse Collins Entertainment. Described as “Welcome to Wrexham and Cheer meets basketball”, the series will follow one of the teams from the three-on-three basketball league in addition to giving viewers a look at Cube’s path in creating and running a sports league from the ground up.
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Dionne Harmon and Madison Merritt also will serve as executive producers on the project with Cube, Kwatinetz, and Collins. Collins is best known for his company’s work in producing awards shows and television specials which include the BET Awards and Black Girls Rock! Jesse Collins Entertainment has a multi-year agreement with ViacomCBS Cable Networks and a first-look film agreement with Paramount Players and Viacom’s other film entities.
The BIG3 first launched in the summer of 2017 after it was first announced by Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz in January of that year. The league would captivate audiences with innovations like the 4-point shot and the inclusion of former NBA stars and legends such as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, George “The Iceman” Gervin, Gary Payton, Stephen Jackson, Allen Iverson, and Clyde Drexler as players and coaches. The league also featured women greats such as Lisa Leslie and Nancy Lieberman as coaches. Drexler now serves as the league’s commissioner.
The series also promises to take a look at the league’s $1.2 billion lawsuit against Qatari investors that was filed in 2018. The suit turned into a rollercoaster situation that would see then-CEO Roger Mason Jr. fired and accused of bringing the aforementioned investors in to pay him and other executives while shortchanging the league. Mason would allege he was fired in retaliation for his own lawsuit against BIG3 claiming that Kwatinetz made racial remarks. Another wrinkle occurred when Ice Cube and the BIG3 took out a full-page ad in the New York Times asking then-President Donald Trump and his administration to side with them in their lawsuit. One investor, Ahmed al-Rumaihi, would eventually be given full diplomatic immunity that December.
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