Draft
Steve Francis, Kendall Gill, DeShawn Stevenson and Joe Smith Join Draft Pool
By Derek Little March 27, 2017
The BIG3, the 3-on-3 professional basketball league, announced today the addition of Steve Francis, Kendall Gill, Donte Greene, Jumaine Jones, Ronald Murray, Joe Smith, DeShawn Stevenson, Mike Sweetney, and Hakim Warrick to their player draft pool.
The eight-team league will tip off June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Teams travel to 10 different cities throughout the season, playing all games in a quadruple header each Sunday in the same venue. It was recently announced that Fox Sports has landed the broadcast rights to the entire season, and will present the games the following night in primetime for a thrilling “Monday Night Basketball” experience. The league championship airs Saturday, Aug. 26 live on the FOX broadcast network.
BIG3 player captains include elite basketball talent like Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups and Jason Williams, among others. Captains will be tasked with drafting their remaining three players at a draft to be held in April. The draft will be preceded by a player combine where all eligible draft pool players will participate in scrimmages, drills and strength and conditioning workouts.
Additional players currently enrolled in the 2017 BIG3 draft include: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Kenny Anderson, Marcus Banks, Keith Bogans, Earl Boykins, Derrick Byars, Josh Childress, Brian Cook, Ndudi Ebi, Reggie Evans, Shane Heal, Larry Hughes, Mike James, Ivan Johnson, Voshon Lenard, Rashad McCants, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Lawrence Moten, Lee Nailon, Andre Owens, Smush Parker, Jamario Moon, Ruben Patterson, J.R. Rider, Eddie Robinson, Brian Scalabrine, Xavier Silas, Latrell Sprewell, Etan Thomas and James White.
Featuring professional basketball’s first four-point shot, BIG3 games will be packed with highly skilled, intensely competitive matchups in the world’s most popular form of basketball – 3-on-3. The winning team will be the first to score 60 points. BIG3 games highlight the biggest basketball superstars competing at the highest competitive level. The league structure encourages this incredibly, competitive group of players to vie for a revenue share based on final league standings.
BIG3 has received growing attention thanks to an impressive roster of basketball royalty, headlined by player captains Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, Rashard Lewis, Jermaine O’Neal, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette and Mike Bibby. The coaching lineup includes Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Clyde Drexler, Charles Oakley, George Gervin and Gary Payton, among others.
