Ice Cube’s The BIG 3 Basketball League has been a big draw and the Everything Is Corrupt rapper plans to keep it growing. He recently announced the league will expand from eight to 12 teams for its third season, the playing age will be lowered from lowered from 30 to 27, NBA & international pro players will be allowed to play, the league will play in 18 cities, and games will take place two times a week. But without question, the biggest announcement was that Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and WNBA legend Lisa Leslie will become the head coach of the Triplets.
BIG3 Big Announcements:
1. Expanding from 8 teams to 12
2. Lowering age from 30 to 27
3. Allowing NBA & Int’l pro players
4. Lisa Leslie will head coach the TRIPLETS
5. Playing in 18 cities
6. Playing 2 times a week— Ice Cube (@icecube) January 10, 2019
The BIG 3 has given women coaching opportunities since its inaugural season. Fellow Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman led Power to the league championship last season and she also won Coach of the Year.
Leslie is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. After her standout career at the University of Southern California, she was the seventh player chosen in the inaugural WNBA draft in 1997. She went on to eight WNBA All-Star selections and captured two WNBA championships playing all her eleven seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks. She holds the distinction of being the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game. She retired in 2009.
In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history and in 2015, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The third season of the BIG 3 is sure to be its best one yet with the addition of Lisa Leslie as a coach.
