Ice Cube on BIG3's Relationship With NBA: 'They Don’t Own Basketball'

Ice Cube is reminding fans, and a certain league, that “basketball is not owned by anybody.”

The remarks came amid a larger discussion with Complex’s Chief Content Officer Noah Callahan-Bever for the latest episode of Idea Generation, which has previously welcomed guests including Big Sean and Tremaine Emory. According to Cube, who first launched his own BIG3 league in 2017 with co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz, the NBA is threatened by the venture for several reasons. He also sees the larger sports media landscape as often favoring the NBA.

“We knew we were gonna get hate from the NBA but we never knew how much sports media was basically ran by the NBA,” Cube said deep into his conversation with Noah. “You know, we thought sports media was pretty much independent [but we] had all this resistance to our clips and highlights and showing what the BIG3 is doing. You don’t see enough of that because of the NBA’s stranglehold on a lot of sports media.”

In Cube’s opinion, the BIG3’s three-on-three gameplay and all-around “looser” vibe makes it more fun for in-person fans and at-home viewers alike when compared to NBA games. Getting more specific on his theories as to why he believes the NBA isn’t a fan of what he’s doing with the BIG3, Cube speculated that being the first to incorporate certain elements into the game has rubbed the the league the wrong way.

“They didn’t think of that and we changed the game without asking permission,” Cube said. “They probably didn’t want us to do the four-point circle, they probably hate that we was the first to embrace mental health, allow CBD use, have women head coaches. We beat ‘em to all those punches so they probably think they own basketball and that nobody should change rules without consulting with them. I’m just speculating but they don’t own basketball.”

For more from Ice Cube and Noah Callahan-Bever, watch their full conversation above.