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Eric WoodyardESPN
The 2020 season of Ice Cube’s Big3 basketball league has been canceled amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We tried everything in our power to give our fans a nice 2020 season, but with a long list of obstacles, we decided to shift our focus to having a great 2021 season with our fans in the stands,” Cube announced Monday in a news release. “Our goal from day one has always been to provide a remarkable experience full of top-level competition and entertainment.”
Year 4 of the Big3 was set to introduce major changes to professional 3-on-3 hoops, including a lower age minimum, a red ball known as a FIREBALL, plus the introduction of an entirely new sport known as FIREBALL3 as the result of its innovative product.
The league is looking to resume during the summer of 2021, but co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz admits to being “frustrated and disappointed that we can’t see Big3 played this year.”
“Cube and I can do a lot, we started this league from scratch and developed an entirely new sport, FIREBALL3,” Kwatinetz added. “With that said, we are not infectious disease experts and cannot control decisions of local and state governments.”
As previously reported, the Big3 continues to work on launching a reality-show-style 3-on-3 tournament with Endemol titled “BIG3: Not in My House,” which is also on hold with network and studio production paused during the pandemic. A release date hasn’t been set yet.
“With the creation of Big3: Not in My House and more time to prepare for the season, we will definitely come back with the fire,” Ice cube said.