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Ice Cube Expands BIG3 Basketball League With Teams in Houston and Miami

Theo

Ice Cube’s BIG3 basketball league continues to grow from strength to strength.

The multifaceted hip-hop icon recently announced that his sports organization is expanding to Houston and Miami. Earlier this year, Cube expressed his desire to expand the BIG3 league from hosting away games to hosting home teams across the country, with Los Angeles being its first acquisition.

On Wednesday (July 3), Bloomberg Eric Mullins and Milton Carroll bought a franchise in Houston, and last month, businessman Heath Freeman bought a unit in Miami. “I am honored to join Ice Cube and (co-founder) Jeff Kwatinetz at the BIG3 and bring a new professional basketball team to Miami,” Freeman said at the time.

He added: “BIG3 is shaping the future of basketball; the gameplay is dynamic and nuanced and the on-court product is engaging audiences in this growing region. Basketball fans in South Florida can rest assured that this franchise will soon help enrich the winning sports pedigree of our greater region.”

Prior to the above-mentioned deals, Cube spoke with ATMOSPHERE In an exclusive interview, he shared the other cities he’d like to expand to. “We’d like to be in Toronto, New York, Miami, Chicago, the Bay Area, the Washington area, Baltimore, DMV, St. Louis, Kansas City, Detroit,” he said. “We’d like to be in Jersey. We actually have a game in Newark this year.”

He also spoke to the outlet about his attempts to recruit newly drafted Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark ahead of the 2024 WNBA season.

Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever shoots a free throw against the Las Vegas Aces in the first quarter of their game at T-Mobile Arena on July 02, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

“Her impact on the ratings is undeniable. She had better ratings than the NBA,” he said of the talented athlete. “As a league, you want that kind of star. It would raise the bar for everybody. If another player came along with that kind of impact, of course, we would pursue her.”

He added: “It’s something that our sponsors and everyone were looking at, and if we had it, it would have meant the league could have raised more money from all of our partners and sponsors. It would have been a big win for the whole league.”

The next BIG3 event will be held in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Sunday (July 7). Buy your tickets here.

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