If you’re losing sleep over the fact that you can’t watch Allen Iverson, age 41, 3/4 speed run around a court on his shoelace-and-gum knees, Ice Cube has just the solution for you.
Cube, along with entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz, have teamed up to launch a new 3-on-3 basketball league, called the Big3, announcing the venture in a press conference in New York City earlier today.
The league, which will begin on June 24 of this year, will feature 10 teams from 10 different US cities. Rosters will be comprised of 5 players, with 3 on the court at any given time. The games will be half-court, with the first team to score 60 points declared the winner. Seasons will run for around 10 weeks, with one round per week played on a Saturday. The final two weeks of the season will serve as playoffs. A draft will be conducted in March to fill out the rosters.
Big3 is being set up primarily as a vehicle for recently retired NBA players to continue earning money through plying their craft. Ice Cube explained the concept to media thusly:
“It sucks to see your favourite players retire. There’s nothing good about it, especially when you know they still got game.”
“My father always told me if you don’t think big, you will always be small. So, we came up with a big idea. It was to bring a style of basketball that I grew up playing, watching, and loving, which is 3-on-3 basketball.”
The league has already signed up a solid handful of retired NBA greats, including Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, Rashard Lewis, Chauncey Billups, Jason Williams, Mike Bibby, and Bonzi Wells, among others. But Cube has his sights set on a bigger fish. The biggest fish, arguably: Kobe Bryant.
“I was the ultimate Kobe fan from day one, when he was coming off the bench for [former Lakers coach] Del Harris. He would take our league to the next level, just like how A.I. takes our league to another level.”
Cube also mentioned Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Tracy McGrady as names he’d love to see suit up for the new league.
As far as Iverson goes, there’s one retired player the former Philly great firmly believes he won’t be seeing come June: Michael Jordan. Media, rather ridiculously, asked The Answer if he’d consider recruiting His Airness for the new league, and his answer was blunt:
“Mike ain’t doin’ this shit. Mike ain’t doin’ nothin’ like this. Mike older than me, and I’m old as hell.“
So that settles that, at least.
Keep an eye on the
Big3 website for all upcoming details on the league.
Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty.
