Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will not be investing in rap legend Ice Cube’s basketball league, the BIG 3, despite conflicting reports.
The confusion starts Wednesday night, when NBA Insider Shams Charania reported that Kaepernick would be stepping in as an investor for Ice Cube’s 3 v 3 basketball league. However, a representative of Kaepernick’s team told TMZ Sports that those claims were false. Ice Cube launched the BIG 3 in 2017. The leagues teams were split up into teams of three, a clear differential to the NBA’s 5 man teams. Most of the BIG 3’s players are former NBA players.
But despite the number of former NBA players in the BIG 3, Ice Cube says the NBA has not been kind to the newer and smaller BIG3. In an interview with Alex Kennedy of basketballnews.com, Cube criticized the NBA.
“The NBA hasn’t been the nicest to the BIG 3,” Cube said. “Of course, publicly, they say all the right words. But we know privately, there’s things done behind the scenes with sponsors, broadcasters, blah blah blah. It did tarnish my fandom a bit.”
Due to the NBA’s lack of support, the former NWA frontman’s league is in danger of shutting down. Kaepernick is still actively searching for a spot on an NFL roster. In May, the quarterback attended a workout with the Los Vegas Raiders, but has yet to receive a roster spot from the organization. The Raiders have not commented on Kaepernick’s status or on the workout.