- 2 days ago
Ice Cube breaks down his global plans for the Big3 and why 3-on-3 is just getting started.
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00:00If you could have anybody performing at the Big Three title game, who would you pick?
00:13Taylor Cube, I want to go back to the beginning of the Big Three.
00:17I need to know, you and Jeff Kwanich, how this first started.
00:21When did this first idea happen?
00:23I think it's after Kobe scored 60 points in his last game.
00:26I got, you know, I had a box at the Staples Center for, you know, 20 years, his whole career.
00:33I missed that game.
00:35I was shooting a movie.
00:37I was in Atlanta.
00:40I think we was shooting Fistfight or some movie like that.
00:43But so, you know, I kind of got beside myself about, damn, I can't see Kobe play no more.
00:51You know, this is bullshit.
00:53You know what I mean?
00:54And three-on-three has always been in my mind, way in the back of my mind, because Mountain Dew and Nike and all these companies do these weekend warrior tournaments.
01:09You know, Saturday and Sunday, come out, bring your best three-on-three squad, try to win a prize, win some shoes, whatever the little prize they got.
01:19And I always was like, you know, that's amateur.
01:22Why isn't three-on-three professional?
01:25Why isn't it a pro version of that?
01:28So I brought this up to Jeff, who had been looking at three-on-three.
01:34He had been studying FIBA and seeing the things that they do wrong.
01:40And then we just started talking about, like, what would a pro three-on-three league look like, even.
01:47When you had that first press conference in New York, introducing Big Three, where did you think you'd be at this point?
01:54You know, we were confident in some ways, but naive in others.
02:01You know, we thought the sports business ran similar to the entertainment business, but it's two different philosophies when it comes to, you know, the people who could support a league like this, meaning the big networks.
02:19Or at that time it was RSNs and, you know, who could support something like this and what was their philosophy on new sports leagues.
02:31And we quickly found out that their philosophy is don't pay attention to a new sports league, you know, wait till they get three or four years under their belt before you can even take them serious.
02:46So we found that out very quick and then, you know, kind of had to adjust to that landscape.
02:53Well, now you're eight years in, season eight.
02:56What would you say is in the state of the big three right now?
02:59You know, we're still growing.
03:00We're going through growing pains, as they say.
03:04You know, we got a great product.
03:06You know, we put on great games, but we're still trying to grow the league.
03:10You know, we still have entities like the NBA, you know, leaning on the support, you know, the sponsors and the networks and the broadcasters to, you know, not really pay attention to the big three.
03:28So, you know, we have to be creative and we have to, you know, create our own narratives in the culture.
03:37And we got, you know, we're good at that.
03:40I'm used to being an outsider, so to speak, and finding my way and navigating through the industry.
03:49So, you know, that's what we're doing.
03:52I was going to ask about the NBA relationship and if it was getting better, but it sounds like that's not the case.
03:59Well, it is getting better.
04:00You know, it's just, I think the front office is the problem.
04:08Players love us.
04:10Coaches love us.
04:11Owners love us.
04:13Owners want to buy teams and want to have a piece of the big three.
04:18GMs love us.
04:20So, you know, it's just the front office that look at us as a threat.
04:26You know, we're kind of a live wire and we change the game without their permission.
04:31And I don't know if they like that.
04:33Yeah, I know.
04:34So another big move this year is the teams being aligned with specific cities for the first time.
04:39Are there talks with NBA teams that are in the same city?
04:43Yeah, there's, you know, talk of some cross promotion.
04:52You know, a few teams have been really great to us.
04:56The Celtics, for one.
04:58You know, this is why we have a team in Boston and Boston has been great as a big three city.
05:07We had our championship there last year.
05:09Every time we go there, the crowd grows.
05:12So, you know, I believe the Pistons, you know, and the amplifiers are in close contact.
05:20You know, some of our owners are very tied in to the NBA.
05:30So, you know, it's going to happen sooner or later.
05:34Most fans watching the big three this summer don't realize you also got these new deals with leagues in Australia.
05:42And Asia, tell me about the global growth of the big three.
05:46Yeah, we've always saw the vision as a global sport.
05:51We, you know, in studying three on three, we looked around the world and saw they playing more three on three around the world than five on five, especially in Asia.
06:03So, our thought process is, you know, do exhibitions in these countries and eventually develop, you know, big three leagues for those regions in those countries.
06:17And then, you know, do a big three, three on three World Cup type event.
06:25You know, if you can look, you know, five or ten years down the line.
06:31So, you know, that's the big picture.
06:34So, having a deal, we just worked out a deal with the NBL, which is the Australian Basketball League.
06:43I think the most credible league outside of the NBA.
06:46And then we're doing something with the EASL, which is the East Asia Super League, which is a league who takes the best teams from Asia and from the different countries in Asia, formulate the best teams and do a league with the best teams playing each other.
07:09So, we're doing a partnership with the EASL to do exhibitions in a few different Asian countries.
07:24So, the vision is coming together.
07:26The Australia League, the NBL sub, is that coming first?
07:30You've got some teams, some players going out there in the fall?
07:33Yeah, we're scheduled to go to Australia this fall, November.
07:37And then, and do Asia early next year.
07:43So, when we talk about this fall, after Big Three season is over, you've got another big plans on your schedule with your first tour in quite a while, huh?
07:51You getting ready for that? How's it going?
07:53Yeah, getting ready for it.
07:55You know, building the sets, building, and, you know, putting a different show together.
08:02You know, I've been performing for a long time, but, you know, every now and then, I put a big production together and go out with it.
08:10It's been a while since my last major production tour.
08:14So, I'm happy to, you know, get back at it.
08:18And, you know, it's been 40 years, so I need to wrap that up in a bow, so to speak, and celebrate these four decades of music, movies, you know, being a part of entertainment.
08:33Yeah, and, I mean, touring, obviously, a big undertaking.
08:36I wonder if you'll be working out with some of the Big Three players this summer to get ready for the durability of that.
08:43Definitely, you know, starting to ramp up my workouts and get my cardio right.
08:51When the cardio's right, I could do it standing on my head, so just working that out.
08:55As far as the Big Three goes, eight seasons in, is there one thing you're most proud of that this league has done?
09:03We never knew when we started the league how much it would benefit the mental health of the players and coaches and everybody involved who, for one reason or another, find themselves outside of the NBA.
09:20Some of them got to go overseas and play, but, you know, the feeling of coming back home and playing in front of your fans and your family has done, you know, more for the mental health of these athletes than I could have ever imagined with this league.
09:37And so that's what I'm most proud of, that, you know, the players feel, they don't feel empty, they don't feel like they got a skill that can't be used no more, that they're basketball players.
09:51And they get to play as long as they can in the Big Three, where in other leagues, it's a numbers game.
10:00You may still can play, but they don't have room for you no more.
10:03Speaking of some of the players and getting up there in age, I've heard you talk about this, too.
10:08Now that the league is getting deeper and bigger and better, you've got more young players coming out, which might be a problem for some of the older guys.
10:20You know, we've been open to, we've been 22 and up since 2019, and it's not a problem for the older guys.
10:30You know, at the end of the day, it's skill level and it's technique, having all the tricks of the trade and knowing how to apply them in a game time situation.
10:39Sometimes you need to mature a little bit to get up, to get everything you need when it comes to that.
10:46I've seen 25-year-olds get locked up and I've seen 42-year-olds get loose.
10:52So you can, you can kind of read that any way you want.
10:57You know, it's just pro three on three.
11:02So either you can play at this level or not.
11:05Another source of pride, I'm sure, is, you know, besides the fact that there are so many iconic names on the list of coaches in the big three,
11:14you've also got Nancy Lieber and Lisa Leslie, two of the greatest women basketball players.
11:20Do you think the, you know, now the Knicks reportedly wanted to talk to Dawn Staley before they hired their new head coach.
11:27Do you think the NBA will ever follow the big three's lead with the women's head coach?
11:32It's really up to the owners when it comes to the league.
11:36It's not really the NBA's place to place a coach.
11:44It's, it's really up to the owners.
11:46So, you know, maybe an owner, I realize that it doesn't matter.
11:54You know, either you know the game and you can communicate or you can't.
12:00And that's not always wrapped up in just men, but women know the game, can teach the game, can communicate and get their players to play hard.
12:11And so we're just a living proof of that.
12:16You know, I guess we're the test model.
12:18You know, and so take a look at what we're doing.
12:23Nancy has won the championship and Lisa Leslie won the championship and they both made it back to the championship.
12:33They didn't win it, but they made it back.
12:36So they climbed back up to the mountain.
12:39And so they have what it takes.
12:41Both made coaches of the year.
12:45Voted by the peers.
12:47Voted by the other coaches and players.
12:50So, you know, like I said, we got the test model if they want to take a look at how it works.
12:57Hey Cube, last, last year you guys made some news when you offered Caitlin Clark some money to join the league before she got to WMA.
13:04Can you tell me about that?
13:06Well, we thought she can have like a Billie Jean King moment and, you know, break a barrier and play, you know, professional three on three.
13:19So we made the offer and her agents, I think they snuffed it out because we never got a chance to talk to her or her family.
13:33So we never really got a chance to make our case.
13:39So it was just pretty much all in the press through the agents and it didn't happen.
13:45So, you know, we thought it was a moment in time.
13:49You know, I don't think we would make that offer again because we feel like, you know, the moment has passed, but we wish her luck.
13:58I don't know if you've already got plans for entertainment at the Big Three's championship game this year.
14:03But if you could have anybody performing at the Big Three title game, who would you pick?
14:10Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
14:13I mean, they, they tearing up the world right now.
14:17You know, if you got their number, I know they just did the Super Bowl.
14:20So we ain't the Super Bowl, but we definitely, you know, got a super game.
14:28You know, I think we're owning the culture right now when it comes to basketball and we're going to continue to do it.
14:36Give me your three all-time greatest Raiders.
14:39Oh, wow.
14:40Three all-time greatest.
14:43I would have to say Kenny Stabler, Marcus Allen, and Jack Tatum.
14:53Yeah, those three.
14:56By the way, I'm talking to my boss.
14:57I was predicting that Tatum would have to be in there somewhere.
15:00So definitely.
15:01Thanks for backing me up.
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