After Ice Cube’s 3-on-3 basketball league, The BIG3, announced it was moving to a more traditional, city-based model in May with the $10 million sale of its first franchise in Los Angeles, the league has once again expanded to two new cities, Houston and Miami, according to Billboard. While the league started out with a touring model — sort of like the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters — its proprietor said at the time, “Basing our teams in home cities allows BIG3 to engage local communities and fanbases. Bringing in ownership groups each with their own sports expertise, business, and capabilities beginning in 2025 will allow BIG3 to grow exponentially.”
The newest ownership consists of businessmen Eric Mullins and Milton Carroll, who will base their team in Houston, and hospitality executive Heath Freeman will put his team in Miami. It’s unknown what will happen with the existing teams, which consist of the Ghost Ballers, 3 Headed Monsters, 3’s Company, Aliens, Ball Hogs, Bivouac, Enemies, Killer 3s, Power, Tri-State, Trilogy, and Triplets, or whatever became of the cryptocurrency that allowed fans to purchase ownership in teams that was announced in 2022.
In March, Cube ruffled feathers in the basketball community by allegedly offering then-Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark a $5 million deal to play in the upcoming BIG3 season, a move that some criticized as opportunistic. Still, it seems to have drawn the right kind of attention, too, with new owners lining up to take the league into its next phase.