The millions of people across America hungry for live sports and those eager for the drama of a reality series may soon have common ground. Ice Cube and his Big3 basketball league are in talks with the producers of Big Brother to produce a reality show basketball tournament.
The concept would entail getting together sixteen to twenty-two basketball players, all of whom have been tested and cleared from having COVID-19. They’d all live together in Los Angeles, and play rounds of games until the top three left standing would be crowned the winners. The reality show aspect would come with the daily lives and actions of the players captured on camera, much like the show Big Brother.
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“As long as we can protect the players, which we will do through proper testing and quarantine, Ice Cube and I feel we can give fans some safe, entertaining brand of basketball to get everyone through this pandemic,” Big3 Entertainment Executive Jeff Kwatinetz told Yahoo Sports. “Cube and I have been in the entertainment business for 30 years. This is our job. People want to be entertained with all we’re going through and enjoy our sports. We think this will help.”
Former Boston Celtics forward and current ESPN analyst Paul Pierce has already expressed an interest in possibly joining the tourney—with his former championship teammate and fellow ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins eager to talk him out of it.
So @PaulPierce34 says he may want in on @TheBig3's plan to quarantine 16 healthy players in a house, film them Big Brother-style, and have them compete for a seven-figure cash prize. @KendrickPerkins tries to talk him out of it 😂 cc: @IceCube pic.twitter.com/I67Bp7SJ8b
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) March 30, 2020
