Could compete for NBA camp spot soon
By Ian Begley
A few months ago, Isaiah Briscoe got a call from Stephen Jackson. Jackson, the 14-year NBA veteran, wanted Briscoe to join his team in the BIG3 League.
At that point, the NBA hadn’t finalized plans for the 2021 Summer League. The Summer League traditionally gives players like the 25-year-old Briscoe an opportunity to play in front of all 30 NBA teams.
With Summer League plans in flux, Briscoe’s agent, Kashif Pratt, looked at the BIG3 as a ‘perfect’ opportunity for the Newark, NJ native.
“The league has great coaching and great mentorship,” Pratt said. “So why stay at home? If he sat at home and plays in a couple of street ball games where he’s clearly the best player, it does nothing for him.”
So Briscoe accepted Jackson’s offer to join his team, The Trilogy, for the season. It turned out to be a great decision.
Briscoe, one of the top high school players in the tri-state area and a Kentucky alum, has thrived with The Trilogy.
Entering the final week of the regular season, Briscoe is averaging 14.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in eight minutes per game. He leads the league in scoring – by a wide margin – among players playing 10 minutes or less per game.
It didn’t take long for Briscoe to adjust to the rules of the league’s 3-on-3 games.
“It’s just like going to play 3-on-3 with your homies. That’s really all it is. It’s just that it’s on TV every week,” Briscoe said of the games, which air on CBS.
For Briscoe, TV exposure isn’t the only benefit of playing in the BIG3.
He’s also learned a lot about the business of basketball thanks to teammates like Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson and James ‘Flight’ White.
“I’m just trying to use this as a learning experience and soak up as much knowledge as I can,” Briscoe said.
Jack, in particular, has left an impression on Briscoe, who starred at Saint Benedict’s and Roselle Catholic during his high school career in New Jersey.
“Just being around him on a day to day basis, the way he carries himself, the way he talks to people, how polite he is. He just always has the right answers for anything that gets thrown at him,” Briscoe says. “Just watching that is helping me learn how to conduct myself in this basketball business.”
If things go well for Jack, Briscoe and Trilogy, the club will win its final regular season game on Saturday and qualify for the BIG3 playoffs in the Bahamas.
After the season ends, Briscoe will almost certainly garner interest from top overseas clubs. He may hear from NBA teams with open roster spots. Briscoe thrived in an extended NBA stint with the Magic in 2018-19, establishing himself as the club’s backup point guard as Orlando made a playoff run. His season was cut short by injury. Since that year, he’s played well overseas and in the NBA’s G League.
Will Briscoe become the second BIG3 player to sign an NBA contract? That remains to be seen. For now, his focus is on helping Jackson, Jack and The Trilogy get to the Bahamas.
“We’re playing well so far, hopefully we can keep going. That’s all I’m thinking about right now,” he says.