By Craig Ellenport

 

Ya gotta love April if you’re a sports fan. NCAA Finals… start of baseball season… the Masters. And oh yeah… the 2018 BIG3 Draft.

Season 2 of the groundbreaking professional 3-on-3 basketball league tips off June 22nd, but first there’s the important matter of figuring out who’s on the court that day. Roughly half of the roster for each of the BIG3’s eight teams is set, each team has six roster spots and starts with a designated captain and two co-captains.

That leaves 19 open roster spots to be filled from a draft pool of more than 60 talented ballers – some who played in the BIG3 last season as well as some big-time names who have entered the draft pool with the hopes of taking the BIG3 by storm.

The 2018 BIG3 Draft takes place April 12th in Los Angeles – and it will be televised in prime time on FS1. So with less than a month to go, here are five things you need to know:

1) TRILOGY BEGINS TITLE DEFENSE INTACT

As a reward for winning the inaugural BIG3 Championship, Trilogy will get to keep all five players from the 2017 roster – captain Kenyon Martin, co-captain Al Harrington, Rashad McCants (last year’s first overall draft pick), James White and Dion Glover. McCants has been named the second co-captain and the team filled his spot by signing Dahntay Jones. With that continuity, Trilogy easily enters 2018 as a favorite to repeat after tearing through the 2017 season undefeated.

2) 3-HEADED MONSTERS’ 4-HEADED ATTACK

Led by team captain and 2017 BIG3 MVP Rashard Lewis, the 3-Headed Monsters gave Trilogy a run for their money in the championship game. Their consolation prize is that they get to keep two players from last year’s in addition to Reggie Evans who was promoted to co-captain. So joining Lewis and Evans are Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Kwame Brown, leaving room for a second co-captain and one open roster spot.

3) MEET THE NEW CO-CAPTAINS

In addition to this year’s talent-packed Draft Pool, BIG3 captains had the opportunity to recruit some of their superstar friends to sign on with automatic roster spots. The league’s decision to add a second co-captain to each team lured some serious talent. Here’s a recap of the new faces:

Ron Artest (Killer 3s)

Carlos Boozer (Ghost Ballers)

Baron Davis (3’s Company)

Drew Gooden (3’s Company)

Glen “Big Baby” Davis (Power)

Nate Robinson (Tri-State)

Amar’e Stoudemire (Tri-State)

Keep your eyes open for co-captain announcements from The 3-Headed Monsters and Ball Hogs.

4) WHO’S ON THE CLOCK?

Trilogy had the first overall draft pick in BIG3 history last year. Captain Kenyon Martin and coach Rick Mahorn look like geniuses for taking McCants, who was an MVP candidate and a huge factor in Trilogy’s title run.

Who gets the first pick this year? It could be the Ball Hogs, who finished eighth in the regular season last year, but that’s not a lock. The BIG3 will again hold a lottery to determine draft order, but this time it will be a weighted lottery based on last year’s standings. The lottery, which will be live on FS1, takes place in April – which gives us a good two weeks for mock drafts!

5) WHO’S IN THE DRAFT POOL (AND WHO’S ALREADY SWIMMING)?

Here’s a rundown of the eight BIG3 rosters as they currently stand, along with players currently available in the draft pool:

Trilogy

Kenyon Martin (captain)

Al Harrington (co-captain)

Rashad McCants (co-captain)

James White

Dion Glover

Dahntay Jones

3-Headed Monsters

Rashard Lewis (captain)

Reggie Evans (co-captain)

(Second co-captain TBD)

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

Kwame Brown

Killer 3s

Chauncey Billups (captain)

Stephen Jackson (co-captain)

Ron Artest (co-captain)

Ghost Ballers

Mike Bibby (captain)

Ricky Davis (co-captain)

Carlos Boozer (co-captain)

3’s Company

DerMarr Johnson (captain)

Baron Davis (co-captain)

Drew Gooden (co-captain)

Power

Corey Maggette (captain)

Cuttino Mobley (co-captain)

Ball Hogs

Brian Scalabrine (captain)

Josh Childress (co-captain)

(Second co-captain TBD)

Tri-State

Jermaine O’Neal (captain)

Nate Robinson (co-captain)

Amar’e Stoudemire (co-captain)

Draft Pool

On April 11th, the BIG3 will hold a combine for the 60-plus draft-eligible players who will be competing for the 19 open spots. As of now, the draft pool consists of 26 returning players from 2017 and 38 who did not play last season – and there is talk of a few more big names being added to the mix in the days ahead. For now, here’s who will be in L.A. for the draft:

Returning Players:

Marcus Banks

Eddie Basden

Derrick Byars

Brian Cook

Mo Evans

Desmon Farmer

Kendall Gill

David Hawkins

Larry Hughes

Mike James

Ivan Johnson

Dominic McGuire

Paul McPherson

Lee Nailon

Moochie Norris

Andre Owens

Jannero Pargo

Ruben Patterson

Eddie Robinson

Kareem Rush

Xavier Silas

Joe Smith

DeShawn Stevenson

Mike Sweetney

Al Thornton

Jerome Williams

New to BIG3:

Chris ‘Birdman’ Anderson

Renaldo Balkman

Jonathan Bender

Keith Bogans

Will Bynum

Eddy Curry

Marquis Daniels

Corsley Edwards

Tony Farmer

Ryan Gomes

Horace Jenkins

Anthony Johnson

Jumaine Jones

Jason Maxiell

Jamario Moon

Lamond Murray

Patrick O’Bryant

Greg Oden

Smush Parker

Morris Peterson

Josh Powell

Allan Ray

Jeremy Richardson

Quinton Ross

Kenny Satterfield

Chris Smith

Will Solomon

Salim Stoudamire

Devin Sweetney

Stromile Swift

Tyrus Thomas

Samaki Walker

Darius Washington

Mario West

Sean Williams

Terrence Williams

Qyntel Woods

Antoine Wright