The Big3, a three-on-three basketball league comprised of ex-NBA players, reportedly plans to launch a quarantined, reality show-style tournament in April, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Details and logistics for how the event could be enacted are still being worked out, but according to Hanynes, the televised tournament would feature 16 to 22 players from the Big3 who have tested negative for COVID-19. They would be quarantined in the same Los Angeles mansion, with the games and players’ daily lives being recorded.
There would be seven rounds of games, with teammates reshuffling after the first round. When a player racks up three losses, he is eliminated. Cash prizes totalling millions of dollars will be awarded for first-, second- and third-place individual winners.
Ensuring the tournament could be held in safe conditions would be an essential first step in getting the event off the ground. Measures that have been discussed as safeguards include building a basketball court on site — instead of using a public one that could risk cross-contamination — and a stipulation that if any player were to break quarantine at any point in the tournament, they would be immediately removed.
“If there’s a will, there’s a way,” Ice Cube, hip-hip icon and one of the league’s founders, tweeted in response to Haynes’ story.
The 12-team Big3 was founded in January 2017 by Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz.
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