Founded in 2017 by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, the Big3 basketball league is rebranding with new enhancements for its upcoming fourth season and beyond.
According to a statement on the Big3.com back in 2017, “the BIG3 set out to professionalize traditional 3-on-3 basketball and made innovative changes purely motivated by a desire to elevate the game.”
Fast-forward three years later, the league has done just that and has acquired millions of “diehard” fans since its creation. But now, for the new year, founders of the Big3 are on a mission to make sure the unique game remains innovative with a new name and fresh, new set of policies.
“There are a lot of sports out there that require similar skill sets, like MMA and boxing, football and rugby, baseball and cricket. Our fans let us know that we were playing something extremely unique, FIREBALL3, which is nothing like the typical 3-on-3 FIBA game coming to the Olympics,” said Cube.
The new policies include player empowerment, allowing players of the league to be themselves while also allowing them to let their personality shine on the court, a mental health policy to support players, coaches, and staff, and allowing the use of CBD for recovery, the Big3.Com reports.
Other changes being made to the game will allow a four-point shot 30 feet from the basketball rim and a 14-second shot clock. The league will also lower the age to qualify to play from 27 to 22, allowing all athletes to qualify to play despite having no previous professional basketball experience. In addition, the league will also be introducing a new red ball, which will be used as the fireball.
Cube also explained how the Big3 differs from other sports stating, “We’ve needed the freedom to keep innovating without potential new fans thinking it was typical 3-on-3. Plus, we didn’t want our deep love and respect for the NBA to be misinterpreted by our use of different rules. We could never compete with the NBA any more than we could compete with the NFL or FIFA. We are the BIG3, our own unique thing. But that doesn’t mean FIREBALL3 can’t coexist with these sports and still be many fans’ favorite sport.”
The fourth season of the Big3 will start this summer. For More information regarding other policy changes, scheduling and tickets, go to the Big3 official website.
“We’re going to keep growing, keep building and keep putting the best athletes on the court. We hope that one day FIREBALL3 will be an Olympic sport too,” Cube added.
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