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Report: Ice Cube, Payton involved with new 3-on-3 league for ex-NBAers

Monica Schipper / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty

It's not known if Ice Cube himself will mess around and a get a triple-double, but the actor/rapper is the major investor in an upstart three-on-three half-court basketball league scheduled to begin play next summer, according to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Former NBA stars such as Kenyon Martin, Jermaine O’Neal, Jason Williams, Stephen Jackson, and Rashard Lewis are among the players committed to the BIG3 league, officials told Wojnarowski. Current National Basketball Players Association deputy executive director Roger Mason will reportedly leave his post with the union to become president and commissioner of the new circuit.

Initial plans call for eight teams of five players each, which will tour from city to city next summer. Hall of Fame point guard Gary Payton is slated to be one of the coaches, reports Wojnarowski.

Mason has been with the NBPA in a full-time position since his playing career ended in 2014, and played a key role in recent CBA negotiations.

The idea for a basketball league showcasing former NBA players has been floated before, most recently last year. Plans for that entry - the AmeriLeague - fell through, however, amid a bizarre claim that the league's founder had falsified his identity and was acting under a fictitious persona.

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