Sunday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn was the tipoff of Ice Cube’s BIG3 3-on-3 basketball league. Many stars in the world of basketball and entertainment were in attendance, including James Harden, LL Cool J, and Whoopi Goldberg. Recently retired NBA champion and future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce was also in the house, and word is he would like to play in the BIG3 league.
Following the 3’s Company team win over the Ball Hogs, Andre Owens while addressing the media said Pierce wants to play. Pierce said what Cube is doing with the league is “legendary.” That’s hard to argue. There is a camaraderie among former NBA players that is unparalleled. They all have such tremendous respect for each other and where possible like to be connected. Pierce is currently an analyst for ESPN, so it likely won’t happen this year. Plus he just finished playing. However, next year he might have that itch, and the BIG3 can certainly scratch it.
Whenever Pierce is mentioned, people think of Kevin Garnett due to their playing partnership at the end of their careers. Owens said he “heard” KG might want to play as well. As word spreads about how competitive and high level these games are, we will see more recently retired NBA stars signing up.