Ice Cube is figuratively forcing the hand of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, following his challenge of the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal-winning 3×3 Men’s basketball team.
During a recent interview at one of his league’s games, Cube provided an update on his recent challenge to the winners of the three-on-three basketball competition during the Olympic games.
While the “No Vaseline” rap OG indicated that the gold medal-winning team, The Netherlands, had agreed to play against the Big3, he appeared convinced the game wouldn’t actually materialize. His reasoning, of course, was none other than what he alleges is interference from FIBA.
“Well, to their credit, they [The Netherlands] accepted the challenge, but it’s FIBA,” Ice Cube said. “FIBA is scared of the Big3. So FIBA is preventing them from playing in our all-star game. So don’t look like it’s going to happen because of that.
“It sucks when politicians get in the way of sports and fandom, but we’re going to still have a great all-star game. Still going to have a great championship celebrity game next week. No sweat off our brow.”
Though it appears as though the Big3 match up against The Netherland’s may not occur this year, Cube seemed enthusiastic about the thought of playing future exhibition games overseas with players from his league.
“We’ll play ’em anywhere they want to play, any rules they want to play with,” he said. “We still think we got the best three-on-three players in the world.”
This isn’t the first time the West Coast Hip-Hop legend has accused a major power in the world of basketball of attempting to foil the success and longevity of the Big3. Last year in July he called on the National Basketball Association (NBA) to drop a bylaw he believes is unfairly hindering his league’s growth. It was then when Cube expressed his frustration with the NBA’s rule that prohibits NBA team owners from investing in competing leagues in a recent interview with JR Sportbrief on WFAN Sports Radio.
“The NBA has a bylaw that states that no one who owns an NBA team can invest in a competing league,” Ice Cube explained. “The Big3 is great. We got some of the best players that ever played the game playing three-on-three. But in no way, shape, or form are we competing with the NBA, so they need to cut that out.”
Check out the post with Ice Cube’s message above.
