Mar 13
Ice Cube's Big3 basketball league headed to Gwinnett
Published: March 12, 2018
The BIG3 basketball league, co-founded by rapper and actor Ice Cube, plans to make a stop in Gwinnett County this summer.
Duluth’s Infinite Energy Arena will welcome the 3-on-3 basketball league, with rosters full of former NBA players, on Friday, Aug. 10. The league had a successful debut season in 2017.
The local event is the last week of eight regular-season games, which lead into Aug. 17 playoffs at American Airlines Center in Dallas and Aug. 24 championship games at Barclays Center in New York. Each stop features four, back-to-back games — the Fox Sports Network and FS1 are broadcast partners — with prominent past professional players.
“During the offseason, we heard from BIG3 fans all over the country who want to see their favorite ballers come to their cities,” Ice Cube said in a league press release. “People are really pumped up to see some of their beloved NBA greats play the game of basketball at the professional level again.”
The BIG3 has added several prominent names for this season, including Metta World Peace, Amar’e Stoudemire, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Nate Robinson, Carlos Boozer and Baron Davis. Its inaugural 2017 season featured players like Rashad McCants (the No. 1 pick in the league’s draft), Kwame Brown, Allen Iverson, Jermaine O’Neal, Chauncey Billups, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Rashard Lewis, last year’s MVP.
Guest coaches during the season were the likes of Gary Payton, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Clyde Drexler, Rick Barry and others.
“We were thrilled by how quickly fans embraced the league last season, and look forward to bringing them an even bigger and better BIG3 this year,” BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz said. “All offseason we've been working hard to elevate the game - we've added incredible talent, new cities and have more exciting updates on the way.”