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Since 2017, the Big 3 has been the premier 3-on-3 basketball league in the United States. It features former NBA players in the most entertaining traveling basketball games around. The league travels to 18 cities during the regular season, and between three and six games are played on one half-court in each city. One of their biggest innovations on the court is the four-point space. There are three circles behind the three-point line where a shot can count for four points.

The Big 3 Court. FOX Sports 1340 AM. 

Ice Cube wants the smartest individuals to join his staff, regardless of background. It's why Amy Trask left the Raiders for this league after 17 years. It's why Clyde Drexler is commissioner. It's why  Lisa Leslie and Julius Erving are among the head coaches in the league. More importantly, all coaches are equally paid.

Cube and Kwatinetz's talks of disrupting spaces was the most fascinating portion of the discussion to me. Kwatinetz brought up the NFL owners' depositions around Colin Kaepernick, and compared the owners' views to the Big 3's views. "What we're doing is scaring people [because] we are empowering athletes," he said. It reminded me so much of what LeBron James and Kevin Durant are trying to do in media, and what Russell Wilson is trying to do as part-owner of a major professional team.

Kwatientz continued on space disruption, this time in sports media. Concerning morning shows, "there's no one talking about what we need to talk about," he said. "If someone can put out a point of view that disrupts corporate greed, that's dangerous power." He even talked about fellow panelist Jemele Hill, who left ESPN after her relationship with the Worldwide Leader was fractured over her tweets directed at President Trump. "Why didn't another network hire Jemele Hill….It's not always racism; they have to go to the convention and have their friends ask them, 'Why did you hire Jemele Hill? Now I gotta hire my Jemele Hill!'"

By allowing athletes to use their voices and platforms to address social injustices, it ultimately puts owners in an uncomfortable position to either listen to their players and enact change, address their players' concerns in broad strokes, or no longer employ them. As co-founders of a league, Cube and Kwatientz want to enact change as one of the fresh, new leagues in the summer season.

However, it was Nancy Leiberman who truly sold me on the Big 3's mission, and got me excited to go to their event the following day at American Airlines Arena. In terms of diversity and inclusion, she compared the two to being asked to the dance vs. having your date dance with you. "If one African-American gets in, and no one after him gets in, we have failed," she noted. To her, the Big 3 is opening doors to minorities and women beyond the court, and keeping the doors open to include more people in the league in playing, coaching, and managing. She also talked in detail about the human element that she gets to see in her players after the game. Her parting words: "We're building a superteam, and we want you to be a part of it."

I had so many takeaways from the panel. How can I diversify my space? How can other leagues, like the WNBA and NWSL, learn from the Big 3 and disrupt the sports media space? I left the panel energized and full of ideas.

First, though, it was time to return to the American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami HEAT, my first network internship, and the night's Big 3 games. It felt so good to be back in the Arena and to see how far I've come; I went from running around the court, scarfing down popcorn at halftime, and gathering audio in the locker room postgame to editing promotions, commercials, and more for one of the largest media companies on earth.

Outside the HEAT locker room. Fun times in the 305! Personal photos. 

Being that my friends, coworkers, and I had press passes, we entered the Arena through the locker room hallway. I actually got to enjoy the walk this time instead of trying to sneak photos as a production intern. I even ran into former HEAT player Willie Reed and his family. He looked so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I reached my seat.

The Big 3 matchups that night were 3-Headed Monsters vs. Enemies, Power vs. Tri-State, and Ghost Ballers vs. Trilogy. 

There was a lot of energy in the building, and lots of families. The latter is so because the tickets are so affordable; Ice Cube noted at the panel that they wanted to accommodate working-class people, attracting a fan base that can't always afford tickets to NBA games.

Though the Big 3 has a shot clock, there is no game clock. Instead, the first team to 25 points ends the first half, and the first to 50 points ends the game. In fact, when a team scores at least 46 points, the music becomes more dramatic, and the PA announcer alerts the crowd that it's a "Point Game."

The best game was 2018 champion Power against Tri-State. Nancy Leiberman and Dr. J squared off in a coaching battle. It was cool seeing former LSU Tiger Big Baby Davis on defense, but it was most entertaining when he went against Nate Robinson of Tri-State. The two were the Shrek and Donkey duo on the 2010 Boston Celtics that were points away from winning an 18th NBA championship. Here, though, they were rivals. In Point Game, Robinson broke Big Baby's ankles; Big Baby tried redeeming himself after sliding across the floor, but Robinson already rose to take the shot. Big Baby grabbed him midair, but the shot was good! It was worthy of a SportsCenter Top 10 spot. The crowd erupted, and Robinson and his teammates ran around the floor.

Special thanks to NABJ for making connections like these happen. It's having tangible access to and learning from executives and notable figures that make the conference special.