O’Shea Jackson professionally known as Ice Cube is one of the greatest and most influential rappers in West Coast Hip-hop.
In 2017, Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz founded Big3 which is a 3-on-3 basketball league.
Kwatinetz is the former CEO of the Firm, Inc, a media production and talent managemnet company in California, and the current COO of Cube Vision.
The league consists of 12 teams featuring former NBA players and international players.
The Big3 basketball league and the NBA doesn’t have an official partnership. The league also takes place in the NBA’s offseason. According to SportsProMedia, Ice Cube claims Big3 has better ratings than the NHL despite Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals averaging 2.72 million viewers. Last spring, The Big 3 extended their TV deal with CBS. The Big3 basketball league has 1.47 million viewers which occurred in the 2021 Championship game between Trilogy and 3 Headed Monsters.
On May 16, 2023, he appeared on Logan Paul's IMPULSIVE podcast, Cube discussed and gave an insight into the challenges he had when he had the motive of establishing his three-on-three basketball league.
When launching the league, Cube claimed that one of the biggest challenges he faced was the opposition he received from various companies. Ice Cube claims BIG3 has a better rating than MLS, and NHL is a clear indication that the league is growing.
In October last year, Cube accused NBA and ESPN of intentionally neglecting and trying to undermine BIG3, but further details were not provided.
The league has already completed five straight seasons and the sixth season starts on June 25th.
Cube is determined to offer the fans a unique behind-the-scenes perspective and will be starring in and producing docuseries about BIG3.
The series will be out in the summer, and its production is in collaboration with Jesse Collins Entertainment. The main objective of the series is to show the steps that have been over the years as BIG3 strives to become one of the most popular basketball leagues in the world.
Many things are going on behind the scenes, especially with broadcasters and the sponsors, that hugely affect the growth of BIG3.
The games will be played in various cities, including Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, New York City, and Memphis, in 10 weeks. The season will be broadcasted on Paramount+ and CBS.