Ice Cube's Big3 basketball league just made a huge play by selling its first team in a $10 million deal.
According to a Bloomberg report, an investment firm named DCB Sports reached a deal with Big3 that will give them a team based in Los Angeles. The deal came after Big3 announced it would move away from its touring method and toward a city-based format. As a result of the announcement, all 12 Big3 teams are on sale.
"We need to plant our roots in cities so we can be more than a rolling all-star game coming through," Ice Cube said in a statement. "It's really about growing the sport and the league."
All the Big3 teams were owned and operated by the league. Four more groups will own a team, which will be announced in June, right in time for the start of the new season. The league wants London and Toronto to have teams and expects all teams to have owners by the summer of 2025.
Big 3 is also thinking of expanding to 16 teams by next year. Under the new city-centric format, Big3 games will be played in arenas of home markets, and teams will get to develop their own fanbases.
Ice Cube has been looking to revolutionize the game of basketball with his Big3 league. In March, Cube offered Caitlin Clark a guaranteed $5 million deal to play in eight regular season games and two playoff games. The deal would be a ground-breaking move as Clark would've became one of the richest female athletes in the country.
"We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship," Cube said. "But I won't deny what's now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn't we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3."
