There could be plenty of former Cavs playing in the Big3 this year
By Dan Gilinsky
From the looks of it, it appears that there could be plenty of former Cleveland Cavaliers players participating in the third season of the Big3 this year.
The Big3, a 3-on-3 professional halfcourt basketball league started by music icon/producer and actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz consisting of a high number of former NBA players, is set to go for its third season in 2019, and its opening proceedings are going to be in the next few days in Las Vegas.
The league is going to have its player combine on Tuesday from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. PST, followed by its draft lottery from 6 to 7 P.M. PST, and its 2019 draft on Wednesday, May 1 (which will be aired on CBS Sports Network from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M. PST) at the HyperX Esports Arena at The Luxor, and from the looks of it, there is set to be plenty of former Cleveland Cavaliers in the league.
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Among the former Cleveland Cavaliers already to have set spots are Drew Gooden, Baron Davis, Ricky Davis, Carlos Boozer, Kendrick Perkins and Shannon Brown.
Gooden and Baron Davis are going to be co-captains on 3’s Company, Ricky Davis and Boozer will be co-captains on the Ghost Ballers, and Perkins and Brown will be co-captains on the Aliens.
Gooden and Ricky Davis were notable players for the Cavs at different times, as Gooden played on the Cavs for three-and-a-half seasons on Cleveland starting in the 2004-05 season, averaging 11.9 points on 48.4% effective field goal shooting, to go with 8.6 rebounds per game, and Davis played for Cleveland a bit over two seasons in the early 2000’s, posting averages of 16.0 points on 45.4% effective field goal shooting, to go with 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game (all per Basketball Reference).
Boozer played well in his two NBA seasons with Cleveland from 2002-04, whereas Brown did not get much run with the Cavs but did prove to be a solid role piece with other teams, Davis was a quick salary dump that came with a Los Angeles Clippers’ first-round pick (which would ultimately become Kyrie Irving, though), and Perkins, who won a championship in 2008 with the Boston Celtics, was a locker room leader during two NBA Finals runs in the second LeBron James stint in the Land.
In addition to those former Cleveland Cavaliers in key roles, the players who are in the draft pool and who will be hoping to get in on Big3 action this year who were on Cleveland at some point in time includes some gems.
Those are Alonzo Gee, Dahntay Jones (NBA CHAMPION Dahntay Jones, rather), Daniel Gibson, Darnell Jackson, Jamario Moon, Joe Smith, Ryan Hollins, and Samardo Samuels. Chris Andersen, who had a short stint in Cleveland in the 2016-17 season, will be playing on Power, too.
As a side note, the league has some key differences from the NBA, as FanSided’s All U Can Heat’s Duncan Smith noted, including, as Smith highlighted, “a 4-point zone 30 feet from the basket.”
Along with that, Smith touched on how the Big3 “expanded from eight teams to 12 this season, and has expanded its schedule to two nights per week consisting of three games per night.”
Next. A recent mock is right in selecting Barrett over Morant for Cavs at #2. dark
It will be interesting to see which former Cavs are notable contributors in the Big3 in 2019.