The BIG3 is working on plans to launch a “quarantined, reality show-style” three-on-three tournament in April, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz – the league’s founders – have had discussions with TV networks about possibility broadcasting the preseason tournament, which they hope would help fill a void in the sporting world.
As Haynes explains, the idea would be to have approximately 16 to 22 players who test negative for COVID-19 be quarantined together in a large home in Los Angeles. A basketball facility would be built on site, and any player who breaks quarantine at any time during the tournament would be disqualified and removed.
The format would involve seven rounds of games, with teams being reshuffled throughout the tournament and players being eliminated when they accumulate three losses. In addition to the games, the players’ daily lives would also be filmed and broadcast “for added drama and storylines,” per Haynes.
“As long as we can protect the players, which we will do through proper testing and quarantine, Ice Cube and I feel we can give fans some safe, entertaining brand of basketball to get everyone through this pandemic,” Kwatinetz told Haynes.
Even if the BIG3 is able to move forward with its tournament as planned, it’s not yet known which players would participate, but Haynes says that former NBA players like Joe Johnson, Zach Randolph, and Greg Oden are among the possible candidates.
As long as everyone’s safety is possible this will draw HUGE numbers on TV. To any sports fan this will be like water in the desert.
Yeah gotta quench my thirst for watching washed up bums
This will turn into a glorified H-O-R-S-E tournament, with each player shooting at their own hoop in the backyard, live on FB via webcam, once everyone is quarantined to their homes next week.
I might watch a webcam HORSE tourney with NBA players in different venues. That’s a pretty decent idea.
Come Ice Cube chill!
Don’t you have enough money?
I’m grooving on all the old classic games being shown on TV…..
so this is basketball meets Big Brother. next we should take a number of quarantines baseball players and put them on an island to play ball.
Please don’t.