Ice Cube dares Olympic gold medalists to 3x3 basketball showdown with Big3's finest: "We'll see who's the best"
Ice Cube has challenged the gold medal winners of the 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics. The co-owner of the Big3 insisted that rather than Team USA sending other players from the country, they should send players from the Big3 league because they are the best in the world in 3x3 basketball.
The statement from the rapper businessman came after the latest struggles of the Team USA 3x3 basketball team at the Olympics.
"We feel like they should have the Big3 players in the Olympics. We do have the best three-on-three players in the world and it’s not even close. We're so confident, Pat, that we want to challenge the gold medal winners to a game,” Cube told Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show. "We'll fly them in and they can play against our All-Stars and we'll see who's the best in the world."
This is not the first time the Big3 owner has made the news regarding his statement. In May, before Caitlin Clark was drafted into the WNBA, Cube offered her $5 million to play in the Big3 league.
How has USA 3x3 Basketball team performed at the Olympics so far?
USA’s 3x3 basketball team’s outing has been as disappointing compared to the 5x5 team. This difference between the performance is consistent across men’s and women’s teams.
In 5x5 basketball, Team USA’s men’s and women’s teams are unbeaten after playing two games each. On the other hand, both men’s and women’s Team USA in the 3-on-3 basketball went winless in their first three games.
Since then, the women’s team has won their next three games. On the other hand, the men’s team dropped their fourth game as well. They won their fifth and sixth game against France on Thursday and China on Friday.
Both teams have to play seven games in the pool round. After completing the pool round, the teams are ranked one to eight. The bottom two teams are eliminated from the competition, and the top two qualify for the semifinals.
The remaining four teams then play to secure a birth in the semifinals. The elimination is done through a play-in tournament. The team in the third position will play the sixth-ranked team, and the team in the fourth spot will play the fifth. The winners will play in the semifinals.
Currently, the USA women’s team is ranked fourth in the pool, and the men’s team is ranked 5th.