The NBA is being investigated by the United States Department of Justice over allegations the league attempted to sabotage Ice Cube’s Big3 league, according to TMZ Sports. The league has denied the allegations.
Ice Cube and Big3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz have met with Department of Justice lawyers regarding concerns the NBA may have engaged in anticompetitive behavior.
The allegations include the NBA interfering with sponsorship deals, discouraging television networks from broadcasting games, and making arbitrary rules to prevent players from joining the league, despite the NBA and Big3 seasons not overlapping.
The report also claims Big3 officials believe they have been “unfairly targeted by the NBA” and sources in the story say NBA owners have been discouraged from investing in Ice Cube’s league.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told TMZ the allegations were “not true”.
“We have been supportive of the Big3 since its inception, but we declined to invest.”
The NBA would face a substantial fine if found guilty.
3v3 is also the most popular version of street ball.
I wonder why the NBA doesn’t have mini-events during all-stars doing 1v1s and 3v3s, I am sure there are players who would LOVE to take part.
I loved 3v3 in my pick up days. It’s a much more efficient way of playing basketball, though I get when guys wanna do full. In my experience, for casual/amateur players, full court becomes more of a game of endurance than it is about basketball skill, hah.
3x3 is a much better format for practicing skills. You get quicker possessions and more space. And it’s usually lower stakes (no one waiting), so you can get away with trying new stuff. I’m a much more assertive player in 3x3 than 5x5.
Yeah but if you play halfcourt too much you end up in a fight, lol.
What do I mean more efficient? If you mean easier, no duh. 3v3 favors offense because there’s way better spacing. Tbh I think 3v3 is a bad idea if you are trying to get better.
The game is 5v5
Same reason that the NFL stopped beach football. Injuries.
Nba should have a 3x3 league. They always have lots of veteran players struggling to land a contract because teams prioritize youth.
Teams could put those guys in their 3x3 teams.
Yeah and Ice Cube could run it!
That should be the purpose of the g-league but the nba can’t even fully commit to that.
No, the G league is like the minor leagues for the NBA and should stay as that. It’s to develop young players not allow old guys who can’t hack it in the NBA anymore to continue playing.
Minor leagues should have a combination of old timers and young players. Having exposure to veteran leadership while you are learning can help your development.
Didn’t the new CBA try to limit Big 3’s? Seems open and shut.
They already have the G-League
Imagine if the league brought back the Legends game except 3 on 3 and half-court only so they don’t die.
3 v 3 1 veteran 1 rising star 1 WNBA 1 legend
Make it happen!
Just thought of a new horrible idea: the midseason tournament should be 3v3
all star game is 3v3 where retired Vets come back
They used to have that til people got injured
the nba used to sponsor “Hoop it Up” back in the late 90s into the 00’s. It was HUGELY popular in some markets and in the beginning it was better run than Gus Macker.
But in later years we had waaaay more issues with Hoop it Up. One time they changed the location the NIGHT before the tourny was a huge pain in the ass. And One year they made us play a womens team because nobody signed up for the top gun league for women. We said we didn’t want to play them so they told us it’d be a loss in pool play so we said fuck it and played them and beat them 21-4 and I got yelled at by one of the players moms for “going to hard” I told her we were forced to play them so there you go.
fuck it why not incorporate it competitively somehow? 3 v 3 overtime like in hockey? Or different tournaments/special events during the season that have different formats like 1v1 3v3 or 5v5 still and it all counts to standings/leaderboards competitively.
the league can do whatever it wants in theory but ultimately they will probably play it extremely safe and stick with tradition as long as the money flows in
This reminds me of NBA Street lol.
NBA Street V3 was the GOAT, the soundtrack to the game was off the charts as well.
Vol 2 >
V2 clears V3 by a mile
Not 1v1. The stake is too high and most players won’t try it.
I just don’t see every superstar willing to risk getting embarrassed on national TV.
They’ll barely admit to playing 1 on 1 with each other in private.
no they wouldn’t, for the same reason why the stars don’t do the dunk contest anymore and why they half ass the ASG. a lot of these dudes live through social media and they’re afraid to get embarrassed.
I think that it’s more so an injury risk thing.
This is bullshit as players played in pro ams recently. It’s injury concerns
Facts
Bro huh?? Just making shit up 😭
They don’t do those things because we’ve spent the past 25 years beating into their heads the belief that only rings matter.
I think you’re right, MOST players would avoid a 1v1 or 3v3 contest during ASW. However, I do think you could find a few bench guys, or even GLeague guys who would take it seriously/competitive to try and make a name for themselves. Maybe casuals wouldn’t, but I would watch the shit out of that.
We did have a couple good ASG in the last 5. Last years was so horrendous people forgot the previous good ones.
I think it has more to do with avoiding unnecessary injuries in games/events that ultimately don’t matter. Nothing to do with embarrassment. I think most players have been especially hesitant to participate in extracurricular activities ever since PG broke his leg in that Olympic practice game.
Yep. But it would have been a nice collab with the Big 3 to feature them in the All Star weekend for like half a day.
In the end players can get injured at any time in their lives, avoiding doing stuff seems silly to me. Whats next, avoid practice and hitting the gym because they can get hurt as well?
Embarassment is definitely part of it, just no player is going to say “yeah I’m afraid to get embarassed” but they will say “yeah I want to preserve my body”.
Has there ever been an injury in the dunk contest? LeBron wouldn’t do it his entire career which put a stop to superstars doing it basically singlehandedly. Is that to protect from injury?
Nobody had ever broken their leg in a Team USA showcase either and then it happened
T-Mac did.
It’s cost benefit analysis for both injury and reputation. Players receive little to no benefit for doing it at the risk of massive monetary and reputational injury.
This is the answer.
Oh hey Allen Iverson, how’s retirement going for you
I be crying