One-on-One With Big3’s Stephen Jackson originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Stephen Jackson has been a part of the Big3 since it began, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger believer in the 3-on-3 basketball league than Jackson — except perhaps for its founder, Ice Cube.
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A 14-year NBA veteran, Jackson is about to enter his eighth season with the Big3 in some capacity. He played in the league for three years after it launched in 2017, and he’s coached the Trilogy for the past four seasons, including to back-to-back championships in 2021-22.
The Big3, which tips off Saturday in Chicago with games broadcast on CBS and VICE, will be location-based for the first time this season. After years of barnstorming, the league’s eight teams now each represent a city where Big3 basketball has found a foothold, including Los Angeles and Miami. Jackson’s DMV Trilogy will call the Washington, D.C., region home and play their games in Baltimore. He says the Big3’s move to a model more akin to the NBA is a positive step.
“Sky’s the limit for this league, man,” Jackson told Athlon Sports.
Buy-in from former NBA players goes a long way toward legitimizing the Big3, and Jackson said he’s constantly recruiting fresh talent. Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is the commissioner of the league, which counts legends Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Gary Payton, George Gervin and Nancy Lieberman among its coaches. The player pool includes former stars like Dwight Howard, Joe Johnson and Paul Millsap, to name a few.
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“A lot of guys, like Dwight and those guys, have a lot of basketball left, and they need somewhere to be able to get it off,” Jackson said. “Ice Cube is still a fan of a lot of the guys that don’t play no more, so this is an opportunity to still play the game.”
The chance to keep playing appealed to Jackson, who retired from the NBA in 2015 at age 37. He was able to extend his career into his 40s with a lighter schedule in the Big3.
“We used to play four or five games a week — one game a week is nothing,” Jackson said. “There’s no reason for you not to bring maximum effort.”
Stephen Jackson, pictured being defended by Joe Johnson, played in the Big3 for three seasons before becoming the coach of the DMV Trilogy.© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
That’s what Jackson brought to the table as a player. And as a coach, that’s the level of intensity he expects. Having played for eight different NBA teams, Jackson learned from some of basketball’s best coaches, such as Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown.
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Jackson likened the intensity of the Big3 to the level seen in the NBA postseason, though the rules differ a good deal. The Big3 plays a variation of 3-on-3 basketball known as Fireball3. In the league’s own words, it’s “nothing like traditional 3-on-3 basketball.” There’s a 14-second shot clock and a four-point shot. Teams are also allowed to challenge one foul call per half, though instead of a laborious review process the challenge triggers a one-on-one possession where the victor wins the call.
Jackson said he helped set the Big3’s physical tone in its early days as a player. The league’s 2021 Best Trash Talker award winner believes that’s the way the game was meant to be played.
“It’s only one way to play the game to me: That’s hard,” Jackson said. “And I want guys that’s gonna play hard. I want guys that wanna win. I want guys that respect the game.”
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Jackson has that in Earl Clark and Isaiah Briscoe, Trilogy veterans with championship experience. Isaiah Austin returned to the Big3 after announcing his retirement, and he brings size to the DMV team at 7-foot-1. The Trilogy also drafted DaJuan Summers and Franklin “Frank Nitty” Session to round out their five-man roster.
The Big3 is shifting to a city-based model this season with franchises in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Boston, Miami and the DMV area.© Aric Becker-Imagn Images
Summers, a Baltimore native who played collegiately at Georgetown, is the only Trilogy player with ties to the area. Still, Jackson said his team’s identity is a perfect fit for the DMV.
“The city is a basketball city, grind type of city,” Jackson said. “It’s a city that works hard, that plays the game hard, and my team and me, we represent that.”
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The Trilogy will play their first home game on June 22 at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore. The Big3 promised halftime musical performances for the DMV’s opener and even teased the possibility of Ice Cube performing.
Big3 co-founder Ice Cube offers an opportunity for former NBA players to continue their careers.© Aric Becker-Imagn Images
Jackson said there’s a level of outside respect that comes with having Ice Cube as a co-founder, along with Jeff Kwatinetz. But ultimately, he said, “it all comes down to the product that you’re putting out there.”
Respect is a common theme when Jackson speaks about the Big3. There’s mutual respect between him and Ice Cube, whom Jackson said allowed him to become the face of the league. Then there’s the stated importance within the Big3 when it comes to respecting the game. And in a player’s league, respect for the players goes a long way, too.
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“I think that what’s making it attractive is the respect that Cube is showing for the players,” Jackson said. “It’s becoming a real professional league. And I think as they continue to grow in those steps, the respect from other players and guys who maybe wouldn’t play in the Big3 will think about it because they still love playing the game.”
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
