Ice Cube Talks 'Incredible Journey' of Launching Big3 Basketball League (Exclusive)

By Brian Jones

Big3 is a basketball league that plays during the NBA offseason. Co-founded by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, Big3 is a 3-on-3 league that has different rules from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) such as four-point zones, a 14-second shot clock, and a team has to score 50 points and lead by two points to win a game. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com Ice Cube talked about how the league has met his expectations since launching it in 2017. 

"It's been an incredible journey from start to now, just an amazing ride," Ice Cube exclusively told PopCulture. "You know, one of the hardest things I've ever done was make this league credible. And so, this is our fifth season we got our best games ahead of us, two more weeks of the regular season, playoffs, championship. And so, it's just amazing, man. I haven't had so much fun in my life."

Big3 currently has 12 teams and features former NBA players such as Leandro Barbosa, Jodie Meeks, Josh Powell, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush. And some of the coaches feature in Big3 are NBA legends, Charles Oakley, Michael Cooper, George Gervin and "Dr. J" Julius Erving. This weekend, the Big3 Championship will take place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and will feature the Trilogy vs. the Power. The game will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. There will also be a celebrity game and the first-ever All-Star game that will feature some of the top players in the league, including Meeks, Jason Richardson, Chalmers and Deshawn Stephens.

Ice Cube also talked about possibly expanding the league to 16 teams. "I see the league just growing, it's so much talent left on the sidelines. We have over 120, 130 people trying out from all walks of pro basketball," Ice Cube said. "And there's usually only 20 spots available. So as you can see, there's so much talent that's still in our draft pool waiting to play. So, as we expand more and more teams, we'll be able to take that talent in and give them a platform, show their skills to the world."

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