Ice Cube Suggests Adam Silver Lied to Him About Big3 League

Just a week after Ice Cube accused FIBA of sabotaging his Big 3 league, the rapper has now made accusations against Adam Silver as well. While discussing the ongoing issues between his 3×3 basketball league and the NBA, the artist alleged that the NBA Commissioner once lied to him.

On the Club 520 Podcast, the 55-year-old recounted how Silver initially supported the Big3. Cube claims the NBA commissioner, however, soon backtracked.

Ice Cube had suggested that players from his Big3 league should be selected for the 3×3 event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The idea doesn’t seem far-fetched. But Cube’s idea was flatly rejected by the Selection committee, and Team USA’s 3×3 contingent (embarrassingly) failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Despite their disagreements, Ice Cube made another effort to include Big3’s top talents in the 2024 Paris Olympics roster. Still, USA Basketball and the NBA refused to soften their stance. And so Team USA went forward with the players they selected and had a miserable tournament finishing 7th out of the 8 teams.

Reflecting on these events, Ice Cube said on the podcast,

“NBA, they don’t like what we doing even though Adam Silver told me he did like what I was doing. His words exactly were, ‘The more basketball, the merrier’, which was bulls**t now that you know…”

“We have been asking since 2020. Since they didn’t even make it in Tokyo… We asked again, they was like, ‘Thank you but no thank you. We got it.’ We see what they got.”

These instances revealed various aspects of the ongoing dispute. Team USA frequently missed out on top 3-on-3 basketball talents due to its stringent selection criteria.

According to FIBA’s 3×3 rules, players need to be ranked as specialist 3×3 players, and need to participate in tournaments to achieve these rankings. These tournaments take place during March and April, effectively ensuring no NBA players can take part.

Cube’s solution was a simple one – select the best Big 3 players to participate in these tournaments, thus ensuring that Team USA can be as well built as possible. With the Big3 attracting many former NBA players, one would think their skills and experience would be a huge advantage should Team USA select them for the 3×3 tournaments.

This made Cube confident in the league’s talent pool, which still continues to attract high-profile players like Michael Beasley and Gerald Green. His belief in the league was evident after he issued an open challenge to the Netherlands, the Olympic gold medalists in 3×3 Basketball, for an exhibition game during the Big3’s Championship Weekend.

Of course, this explains why the NBA seems to be wary of the growing influence that Cube and his league have.

Ice Cube refuses to back down

The feud between the two leagues peaked in mid-2023 when Cube accused Silver of interfering with investment in the Big3. On The Breakfast Club, the rapper discussed how the NBA Commissioner stopped a few of the league’s owners from putting their money into the 3-on-3 basketball tournament, stating,

“Some owners want to invest in the Big3. We have heard from them. They are not allowed to.”

Afterwards, Cube called Silver out online, “Adam Silver really needs to worry about the new ABA that’s coming. These foreign investors will purge the NBA of top talent like LIV GOLF did to the PGA.”

He then accused the NBA of gatekeeping sponsorship and network deals from the Big3 to weaken them. While sharing his message publicly, he announced, “What I want to do when I say ‘work with us’ is to stop working against us. Stop doing that bulls—t behind the scenes that we know you doing”.

The rift between them seems to be far from over at this stage. Recent disagreements have only increased the distance between them.