Ice Cube’s BIG3 League Returns to CBS as Stephen Jackson Criticizes Lack of Support
Ice Cube’s BIG3 league is set to make a comeback on CBS Sports, with the network serving as the primary broadcaster for the 2024 season. CBS Sports will broadcast a minimum of 20 regular-season BIG3 games, along with the league’s playoffs, championship, all-star, and celebrity matches.
The iconic figure in hip-hop, movie production, and league ownership expressed his excitement for the upcoming season while celebrating the continuation of the partnership with CBS. Ice Cube, at 54, stated, “CBS feels like home for the BIG3, so it’s good to be back home. The best 3-on-3 basketball in the world on the best network in the world. It’s only right.”
Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President of Programming at CBS Sports, praised the league for its growth in viewership, attendance, and popularity during its six seasons of operation. He mentioned, “BIG3 continues to deliver an exciting brand of basketball to a passionate audience in addition to the work they do on behalf of players and the community. We look forward to the BIG3 returning to our slate of action-packed summer programming on CBS and Paramount+.”
The news of BIG3’s return to CBS comes in the wake of revelations that the Department of Justice is currently investigating the NBA for allegedly conspiring to undermine BIG3’s success. According to a TMZ report, the NBA is accused of trying to dissuade sponsors, television networks, athletes, and referees from collaborating with the league.
During the previous summer, Ice Cube publicly criticized the NBA and ESPN, accusing them of working against his efforts. He expressed, “Ever since I put out the Contract with Black America, you know they’ve been messing with me. Here and there, this and that. But it’s cool, you know, I expect that. You know I’ve been working on the BIG3 for a long time and you know how they’ve been messing with me. I’ve done made it plain, simple, and clear what they’ve been doing. The NBA’s been messing with us.”
Following the news of the DOJ’s investigation, former NBA star and current BIG3 head coach Stephen Jackson took to social media to criticize those who failed to support Cube or the BIG3 over the years. He stated, “Sh*t makes no sense. I’m first-team all-common sense.”
“When it came out on social media that Cube was the first black owner of a professional league, everybody wanted to post up for clout, nobody actually wanted to come out and show up to the games. Everybody was clout chasing.”
Jackson continued by saying, “Cube was going on, doing interviews saying how everybody was hating the league, blocking his sponsors. He said the NBA was hating. Nobody believed him, now it’s coming out to be true. It makes sense if all the coaches in the BIG3 are Hall-of-Famers and a lot of the players are ex-players from the NBA, why wouldn’t you support that? Oh, I know why. We all know why.”
The seventh season of BIG3 will commence in the summer of 2024 on Saturday, June 15, and conclude on Sunday, August 18.