The title goes to Boston Ball Hogs
… and coach Gary Payton (who will talk more below - we all know how talkative he is), after crazy final game finished with two 4-point shots in a row made by season and finals MVP, Jeremy Pargo:
It was also a season when Montrezl Harrell scored 42 of his team 50 points in a single game. It’s exactly this nostalgia that makes us like this league, isn’t it? Who among us hasn’t played a game like that on a neighborhood court at some point?
Next year, the 10th season, will be a nice milestone.
With a decade of experience and history under their belts, we all should be well prepared to discuss BIG3 feature, especially in context of 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. However, “The Glove”, and, more importantly, the league founder and owner - Ice Cube - for some reason decided to start this discussion now.
The discussion goes nowhere
Gary Payton said: “They need to let our guys into the Olympics, and we wouldn’t end up in 50th place every year.”
Fortunately, Ice Cube wasn’t so precise (there were only 8 teams competing during Olympic games both in Tokyo and Paris, and men US team didn’t qualify to first one and finished 7th in second):
Both were probably not the best starters for serious conversation about presence of BIG3 players in USA 3x3 basketball national team. But, the discussion itself is pretty interesting and complicated.
Let’s get serious
The current status of USA men 3x3 basketball is (more or less) the following:
The highest potential in the world (past NBA players, thousands of NCAA players entering market each year, G League and many other leagues + streetball tournaments)
Zero success during international FIBA3x3 tournaments since Champions Cup, with Miami team being the only exception, playing really good 3x3 basketball at World Tour level)
BIG3 league - exceptionally good and very promising business-wise, but with special rules, very limited visibility outside US, some really great players and… few veterans, who should not play basketball anymore, but they do.
The US has fantastic resources, ready to be used by players and coaches, available at their fingertips.
Huge awareness problem, look at this thread from week ago, apparently majority of US basketball community has no idea about 3x3 basketball, the opportunities it offers and the career paths possible. Big thanks for Dominic Butler for valuable insights and open discussion, we highly recommend his Four Quarter Files substack to all our readers!
Few cases of FIBA3x3 stars playing in BIG3 league already in the books. They were good stories and good streetball, even despite the fact, that European ballers played under “Aliens” name.
Few cases where great ideas resulted in bad press are also known - recent one, related to Olympic champions playing in BIG3 All-Star Game was bold and really good!
To summarize (for now)
You will not get to Olympics because “they need to let our guys”. It’s a decade long process and huge investment of time, effort and money, with many (successful and failed) experiments on its way. Tristan Lavalette described this process in details in his book “Basketball 2.0. 3×3’s Rise from the Streets to the Olympics”, that’s another fantastic reading recommendation we have for you today:
The way is much shorter now than it was decade ago, but still it goes through FIBA3x3.
So the best things Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz (league founders) can do are:
Establish good relationships with FIBA3x3 people (if possible)
Stop trash talking and start talking business
Bet on people, who can build bridges instead of burning them
Start with small steps
That would be a good starting checklist:
Appreciate (and make sure it is in the media, everywhere!) the work done on FIBA side to make 3x3 olympic discipline
Invite Jimmer Fredette for few BIG3 games (or at least nice dinner!)
Make yourself visible at FIBA3x3 events
Make BIG3 player presence at Olympics a league goal and keep BIG3 community (players, coaches and other staff) responsible for that
That is probably the only approach which will benefit everyone, especially fans like us. Let us know whether you find it at least worth to consider.
Thanks to all readers, especially subscribers, you rock! Find us on X, LinkedIn and we’d be thrilled if you joined our FB group too! Take care.