The 2017 season was the inaugural
BIG3
Big3 (stylized BIG3) is a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by hip hop musician and actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz. The league consists of 12 teams whose rosters include both former NBA players and international play ...
season. The regular season began on June 25, 2017 and ended on August 13, 2017. On August 26, 2017, Trilogy defeated the 3 Headed Monsters 51–46 in the BIG3 Championship game, completing a perfect (10–0) season.
Venues
Draft
The inaugural BIG3 draft was held on April 30, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Twenty-four players were selected across three rounds.
Player selections
NOTES
Regular season
Week 1 (Brooklyn, NY)
The inaugural week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
Barclays Center, in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. It featured four
3x3 basketball games. The winner of each game was determined by the first team to reach 60-points, such that when they 60 or more points they lead by 2 points or more, half time occurs when one team reached 30 or more points. If a team reaches 60 or more points without leading by 2, the game enters "overtime" and continues until one team leads the other by 2 or more points. During this week, the inaugural game went to overtime.
Week 2 (Charlotte, NC)
The second week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
Spectrum Center, in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
. The winner of each game was determined by the first team to reach 50-points, such that when they score 50 or more points and they lead by 2 points. Half time occurs when one team reached 25 or more points. The 50-point goal has been kept in place after the 60-point goal made the games a little too lengthy.
Week 3 (Tulsa, OK)
The third week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
BOK Center, in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
.
Week 4 (Philadelphia, PA)
The fourth week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to:
*Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California
*Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California
* Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California
* Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California
* Wells Fargo Cen ...
, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.
Week 5 (Chicago, IL)
The fifth week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
UIC Pavilion
Credit Union 1 Arena (previously known as UIC Pavilion) is a multi-purpose arena located at 525 S. Racine Avenue on the Near West Side in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in 1982.
Description and history
Credit Union 1 Arena is located on the cam ...
, in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
. Trilogy clinched a playoff berth with a win over Tri-State.
Week 6 (Dallas, TX)
The sixth week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
American Airlines Center
The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas ...
, in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
. 3 Headed Monsters clinched a playoff berth with a win over Tri-State.
Week 7 (Lexington, KY)
The seventh week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at
Rupp Arena
Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility o ...
, in
Lexington, Kentucky.
Week 8 (Los Angeles, CA)
In a repeat of the first weeks games, the eighth and final week of games in the Big3 Basketball League took place at the
Staples Center, in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The Ghost Ballers and Power clinch playoff berths as the last two in, eliminating 3's Company due to a loss to the Ball Hogs.
Standings
Notes
* Z clinched top
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
* Y clinched playoff spot
Playoffs
Week 9 (Seattle, WA)
The first post-season games took place in
Key Arena, in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
. 3 Headed Monsters, Power, Trilogy and Ghost Ballers competed in two semifinal playoff matchups, to determine who would advance to the championship game.. The Killer 3's, Ball Hogs, 3's Company, and Tri-State played in two games which determined the lower positions, but did not officially count in the standings.
Week 10 (Las Vegas, NV)
The league's inaugural championship game was hosted at
MGM Grand Garden Arena
The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip.
Sporting events
From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...
in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. A
consolation game
A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...
was also played between the two teams eliminated in the previous week's semifinals.
Bracket
Individual statistic leaders
Awards
The league's players voted for the inaugural BIG3 awards, which were announced prior to the championship game.
* Most Valuable Player:
Rashard Lewis
Rashard Quovon Lewis (born August 8, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. Lewis entered the NBA directly from Alief Elsik High School. He rose to prominence in the NBA as a scorer with the Seattle SuperSonics, and was later ...
(3 Headed Monsters)
* Coach of the Year:
Rick Mahorn (Trilogy)
* Player Captain of the Year:
Kenyon Martin (Trilogy)
* Defensive Player of the Year:
James White (Trilogy)
* 4th Man:
Al Thornton (3’s Company)
* Too Hard to Guard:
Al Harrington
Albert Harrington (born February 17, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Cape Town Tigers. Selected with the 25th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Harrington played 16 seasons in the ...
(Trilogy)
* Best Trash Talker:
Stephen Jackson
Stephen Jesse Jackson (born April 5, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Mi ...
(Killer 3s)
* Best Dressed:
Cuttino Mobley
Cuttino Rashawn Mobley (born September 1, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association from 1998 to 2008. He played college basketball for the Rhode Island Rams, earning conference p ...
(Power)
Allen Iverson controversy
Allen Iverson's return was highly publicized when Big3 came to Philadelphia. Before the game, Iverson said, "I'm not going to go out there and be the 25-year-old Allen Iverson—you're going to see a 42-year-old man out there, but to be able to do that, for my fans, I thought that would be cool, just to get back out there again
..for my fans to get that flashback." However, hours before the game, it was announced Iverson would not be playing. Iverson claimed that he did not play due to "advice from my doctor." Iverson's decision was frowned upon by many in the Philadelphia community.
On Sunday, July 30, the Big3 was scheduled to have games being played in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. Iverson was slated to appear for his team, 3's Company, but failed to show up to the event or notify league officials about his decision. The next day,
TMZ Sports
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 2 ...
posted pictures showing Iverson at a Chicago Area casino on the morning of the scheduled game.
References
{{BIG3
Big3
2017–18 in American basketball
Big
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...