The Orlando Magic will be well represented when the BIG3 tips off this summer. Ten Magic players were selected to participate in the 3-on-3 league.
For those looking for a basketball fix this summer, Ice Cube and Allen Iverson have your answer. That sentence was not a typo.
The two, among many other organizers, joined forces to create a premier 3-on-3 basketball league called the BIG3. The league will tour the country and feature some notable retired players acting as players and coaches. The list of former players and personalities involved with this league is pretty significant.
It includes a fair amount of nostalgia for Orlando Magic fans. Plenty of nostalgia actually.
Former 2010 Magic teammates Rashard Lewis and Jason Williams will captain a team called the 3 Headed Monsters that will feature former top overall pick Kwame Brown and LSU legend Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf after Sunday’s BIG3 Draft.
Rashard Lewis and Jason Williams actually lead a contingent of 10 former Orlando Magic player who will participate in the league. Corey Maggette and Cuttino Mobley will captain the Power team with DeShawn Stevenson on the roster too. Maurice Evans, Larry Hughes, Lee Nailon, Al Harrington and Brian Cook also are playing.
Other notable players participating are Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, Ricky Davis, Charles Oakley, Chauncey Billups, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson.
Those are some pretty big names, even if some of those players had very short stints with the Magic.
Orlando Magic
The BIG3 will play a half-court 3-on-3 game at major stadiums across the country — the closest to Orlando is July 23 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. They are also introducing funky rules, like a four-point shot.
The games will air on Mondays starting June 26 on FS1. The finals will take place Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.
That should give basketball fans their fix for the summer during one of the quieter times in the basketball calendar. It will help with a direct line of basketball from the end of the NBA Finals to Eurobasket and international competitions in August.
But notably not on this list is Steve Francis, who is believed to be participating in the league. He was not drafted, despite participating in the league’s combine last month.
The former Magic star player showed up at the BIG3 combine and seemed a cinch to get selected by his good friend Cuttino Mobley.
https://twitter.com/SteveFranchise3/status/858449609256914944
Alas, it was not meant to be. I suppose Francis could still sign a free agent contract and play in the league. But we will see.
There is plenty of interest in this league, even if for just the entertainment value. No one quite knows how the funky new rules will work or even if some of these retired players will be in good shape to make for a competitive and entertaining game.
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But after Summer League ends in July, there is not a lot of basketball going on. So this will have to satisfy our fix for now.