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
