One burning question that every athlete has to face at the end of their career is: What comes next? For players who have dedicated their whole lives to the sport, it is not easy to move on. This is where Ice Cube’s three-on-three basketball league comes into play. Rapper and actor Ice Cube founded Big3 in 2017 to offer an additional life to an athlete’s professional career after retirement from the NBA.

While it is not an easy task to start a basketball league from scratch, Ice Cube has done an incredible job so far. The league has completed six seasons and has been constantly growing in terms of viewership and attendance since its inception. However, he has recently expressed his discontentment with the NBA’s lack of support for the new league.

NBA spokesperson makes shocking admission

Ice Cube’s Big3 league features retired basketball players who face off in a 3-on-3 basketball game. It is an innovative concept and something entirely different from the NBA. Even the Big 3’s games are played during the NBA offseason. Although both leagues do not overlap at all, there has been significant resistance from the NBA, as per the league’s founders. According to the allegations, the NBA is purposely going out of its way to stunt the growth of the newly formed league.  In addition, the NBA interferes with sponsorship agreements, dissuades television networks from airing games, and creates arbitrary rules to keep players out of the league.

As per the Big3 officials, they believe that the NBA is “unfairly” targeting the new league. They have also discouraged NBA owners from investing in the Big3. Even the referees are discouraged from officiating in the Big3 games while working for the active league. Addressing the allegations, NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated, “Those claims are not true…We have been supportive of the Big3 since its inception, but we declined to invest”. 

The NBA is under investigation for antitrust violations

The Big-3 co-founders had met with the Department of Justice lawyers during the first half of the year itself. The investigators are reportedly contacting active league owners as part of the investigation. The United States Department of Justice is currently investigating the veracity of the allegations. As per TMZ, if the NBA is found guilty, they will have to pay a huge fine for antitrust violations.

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Ice Cube has been ripping apart the NBA for months now for its lack of support and constant snubbing. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Cube said, “I’m not trying to compete in any way shape or form with the NBA. We are very complementary. So, I don’t understand why they would do some of the things that’s being done behind the scenes. Encouraging people to not sponsor us, encouraging networks not to play us”. He further added, “We’ve been able to survive but at a certain point it’s just redundant and ridiculous. We got to fight back in some way, shape, or form.” What do you think of this controversy? Let us know in the comments!

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