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The BIG3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube is putting down roots as it expands with home teams in Miami and Houston.
As the seventh season of the BIG3 three-on-three basketball league featuring former NBA, collegiate and international players created by Ice Cube is underway, it’s expanding to include two new teams in a traditional city-based format. The 12-team league usually plays in a barnstorming format during the summer – last season, the league played games in Chicago, Dallas, Brooklyn, Memphis, Miami, Boston, Charlotte and Detroit. Miami is one of three cities that will have a dedicated team, along with the cities of Houston and Los Angeles.
Houston’s BIG3 franchise was announced in a post on Instagram Thursday (July 4). Energy executives Eric Mullins and Milton Carroll were named as owners of the franchise. The news comes weeks after an investor group led by hospitality executive Heath Freeman secured their franchise in Miami for $10 million. The first city-based franchise will be in Los Angeles after a deal was struck with the DCB Sports investor group for $10 million. All three franchises are set to begin play next season. Ice Cube spoke about the move in a post on Instagram when the Los Angeles deal was announced in May, writing: “We need to plant our roots in cities so we can be more than a rolling all-star game coming through. It’s really about growing the sport and the league.”
“We can plant our roots in these cities,” the “Jackin For Beats” rapper stated about the moves in an interview with the Athletic. “It is great to come through with, like, a rolling All-Star event, but if you want to really unlock the fan-base potential, connecting to cities does that.” BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz agreed with the veteran rapper’s position in the same interview. “We do things in the cities when we go there,” he said. “We do the Young 3 and try to get involved with a lot of youth organizations and charities. The truth is that you can only do so much, you know, dropping in a city for four days than you can if you have a team rooted in the city.” The move is the latest from the league, coming after the extension of an offer to women’s college basketball phenom and current Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark to sign with the league for $5 million instead of going to the WNBA.