DETROIT ― The BIG3 basketball league, founded in 2017 by rapper Ice Cube, is transitioning to a city-based franchise model for the 2025 season, and that model includes a team in Detroit: the Detroit Amplifiers.
The 3-on-3 basketball league announced its eight team names Wednesday, as well as head coaches for most of its teams. The Detroit team will be coached by NBA and Eastern Michigan legend George “the Iceman” Gervin.
The 2025 regular season is scheduled to be eight weeks, possibly starting in June, and Detroit is scheduled to host one of those weeks. Which week hasn’t yet been announced, nor has the local venue, though the BIG3 basketball league has played three times at Little Caesars Arena, most recently in 2023. Detroit drew crowds of several thousand for BIG3 basketball, and Michigan is an obvious fit for a league franchise, given the state’s long ties to 3-on-3 basketball, including summer Gus Macker tournaments.
Last season, the BIG3 league had 12 teams, with names like the Aliens, Triplets, Killer 3s and Ball Hogs, but none were tied to a specific city. The league traveled to 10 different cities ― eight weeks for the regular season and two for the postseason. Each week, all 12 teams played in one city.
The league announced in July that Detroit would be one of the city-based franchises for 2025.
It appears that in the franchise model, each city ― Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles and Miami ― will host one week during the eight-week regular season, featuring all eight teams.
“This is a landmark moment in our league,” BIG3 Co-CEO Ice Cube said in a statement Wednesday. “These cities have shown up for us year after year and we are honored to represent and reward those fans with a new franchise of their own. The basketball energy in these cities is unmatched, and we’ve seen first-hand the power of their fanbases.
“Transitioning to a full city-based model for this season is another marker of the league’s continued exponential growth, and fans can expect an increased talent pool and a more competitive style of game than ever before.
“And this is just the beginning.”
The BIG3 is hoping to add for more city franchises for the 2026 season.
The Detroit-based team is owned by GameAbove, a sports-centric business development and strategic investment group that has a growing portfolio in Metro Detroit, including sponsorship of the annual GameAbove Bowl at Ford Field and the naming rights for Eastern Michigan’s basketball arena ― the George Gervin GameAbove Center ― in addition to providing significant financial support for Eastern Michigan athletics.
GameAbove was founded by Keith J. Stone, and includes ambassadors like former EMU and NFL star T.J. Lang, Gervin, and Anthony Tomey, the co-founder of the Born in Detroit apparel brand.
“It’s extremely exciting,” Lang said about the BIG3 basketball league in an interview with The News. “The people in our group are passionate, we’re all winners, we all have the same competitive mind set. With 3-on-3 now being in the Olympics, what Ice Cube has done, it’s just gaining popularity.
“And knowing Detroit is ultimately one of the best basketball towns in the country, I think the fans can expect a competitive 3-on-3 team and hopefully a hell of an entertainment product.”
Said Tomey: “We do everything first-class. We’re going to put a great product out there.”
Detroit’s ownership group, Tomey said, plans to be active in the league’s Young3 initiative, which is a community outreach effort to work with children, including clinics and meet-and-greets with players and coaches.
Some of the current stars in the Big3 basketball league ― which also includes the 4-point shot ― are Detroiter Jordan Crawford, Isaiah Briscoe, Kevin Murphy, Michael Beasley, Corey Brewer, Jeremy Pargo, Garlon Green, Earl Clark, Reggie Evans, Jeff Ayres, Leandro Barbosa and Montrezl Harrell.
The other seven teams are the Boston Ball Hogs (coached by Gary Payton), Chicago Triplets (TBA), Dallas Power (Nancy Lieberman), DMV Trilogy (Stephen Jackson), Houston Rig Hands (Calvin Murphy), Los Angeles Riot (Nick Young) and Miami 305 (Michael Cooper).
The league has a TV rights deal with CBS and Paramount+, which will broadcast 26 hours of league action this year.
This will be the BIG3 basketball league’s eighth season.