What is The Big 3 championship game everyone’s talking about?

Ice Cube’s basketball league is picking up steam. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the championship game.

The Big 3 championship game will feature two powerhouse teams, Power and 3’s Company, taking the floor in a winner-takes-all 3-on-3 showdown at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday night.

You’ve probably heard of The Big 3 here and there. After all, there was a good amount of commotion this week when one of the league’s co-founders announced Kobe Bryant would be playing in The Big 3 next season. Kobe Inc.’s communications director shot that idea down with the quickness, but bringing an all-time great back to the hardwood would have created even more buzz about a growing league that’s revitalized some former NBA stars.

What is The Big 3?

In short: It’s a league to watch when the NBA Finals are over, but it’s slowly morphing into something bigger than that.

You know how traditional basketball games are 5-on-5, full-court? Well, The Big 3 is an eight-team, 3-on-3 league. Each team is comprised of six players — with one or two captains, a co-captain, plus a coach — and plays one game per week for eight weeks, jostling for playoff seeding.

The league was co-founded by Ice Cube and catered to recently retired NBA players. Guys like Amar’e Stoudemire, Nate Robinson, Corey Maggette, Baron Davis and Jermaine O’Neal are each competing, and Allen Iverson, Gary Payton and Nancy Lieberman coached this season.

This year, Chris ‘Birdman’ Anderson and Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis were new to the league, as were Davis, Stoudemire, Robinson, Metta World Peace, Carlos Boozer, Drew Gooden, Quentin Richardson and Dahntay Jones. It’s easy to believe that as more players wind down in their NBA careers, they will seek to extend their careers — and their pockets — playing in The Big 3.

So is this like a real league?

Yup. The eight teams play in 10 cities: Houston, Chicago, Oakland, Detroit, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and then the championship game in the best city in the world, Brooklyn, New York. Tickets start as low as $17 and the best ticket in the house for the championship game is currently on the resale market for $971.55 plus fees.

Each season begins with a draft, and the champions get to retain five players from the previous season. The base draft pick compensation in 2017 was $100,000, according to Bleacher Report, and 52 percent of all Big 3 profits are split among the eight competing teams.

When there’s a championship, there’s a prize, right?

Yup. The championship team splits 30 percent of that aforementioned 52 percent cut. The remaining seven teams share decreasing portions, with the last place team obviously receiving the smallest cut.

Well, who’s playing on Friday night?

The two teams competing for the championship are Power and 3’s Company. Here’s the roster breakdown:

Power

Corey Maggette
Cuttino Mobley
Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis
Xavier Silas
Ryan Gomes
Quentin Richardson
Chris ‘Birdman’ Anderson
Coach: Nancy Lieberman

3’s Company

Demarr Johnson
Baron Davis
Drew Gooden
Andre Emmett
Jason Maxiell
Dahntay Jones
Coach: Michael Cooper

There’s also the showdown for third place between 3 Headed Monsters and Tri State:

3 Headed Monsters

Rashard Lewis
Reggie Evans
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Jamario Moon
Kwame Brown
Salim Stoudemire
Qyntel Woods
Coach: Gary Payton

vs,

Tri State

Jermaine O’Neal
Amar’e Stoudemire
Nate Robinson
David Hawkins
Bonzi Wells
Robert Hite
Coach: Dr. J

How can I watch it?

If you’re in the New York City area, you can still buy a ticket to The Big 3 championship game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET at Barclays Center. If not, you can watch on FOX, on Facebook or on the FOX Sports app.