Rapper Ice Cube To Launch Retired NBA Players League
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Famous rapper, producer and actor Ice Cube missed seeing some of his favorite retired basketball players on the court, so he created a league of retired players called Big3.
The three-on-three, half-court league will begin playing games in June.
Altogether there will be eight teams featuring five former NBA players each, according to The Vertical. Each team's coach will also be an ex-player.
Roger Mason, the National Basketball Players Association's deputy executive director, will be stepping down from that role to serve as president and commissioner of Big3.
"I thought of this concept as a fan who got sick of seeing his heroes retire and not play anymore," Ice Cube explained. "A lot of these guys can still play once they retire – just not the back-to-backs or four games in five nights."
He added, "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."
