Kansas Jayhawks Have Major Presence In Ice Cube’s BIG3 Basketball League

Toward the end of the first half in Week One, 3’s Company guard Mario Chalmers was so sure where his teammate, Brandon Rush, was that he delivered a behind-the-back, no-look pass to him for the easy bucket.

“Our chemistry is really good,” 3’s Company coach and former Los Angeles Lakers star Michael Cooper said, “because those guys know each other.”

Indeed the 3’s Company players are incredibly familiar with each other. That five-man team in Ice Cube’s BIG3 league features three players who played at the University of Kansas together from 2005 to 2007: Chalmers, Rush and Julian Wright.

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Typically, in this three-on-three league, a team’s captain and co-captains stay on, but unless the squad won a championship, the rest of the team is reshuffled.

Chalmers, the captain, selected Wright with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 BIG3 Draft and acquired Rush, who had been released by the Aliens squad, as a free agent.

“I kind of picked up the sad puppy,” Chalmers said jokingly.

Friends who message each other daily, Rush and Chalmers start together while Wright has been coming off the bench along with former Oregon player Alex Scales.

The third starter on 3’s Company, though, also has a Sunflower State connection. Michael Beasley starred at Kansas State and played against both Chalmers and Rush in the Big 12.

One might think the Jayhawks would gang up and talk trash to their former in-state rival, but that’s not the best course of action when it comes to Beasley.

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“He can talk your head off,” Rush said. “You don’t start with him. He’s kind of like another Draymond (Green) to me where he can go all day.”

And even though Chalmers and Rush led KU to the 2008 national championship, perhaps Beasley, 3’s Company’s leading scorer at 21 points per game, has some bragging rights because Kansas State was the first team to defeat KU that year.

“He ain’t got s – – -,” Chalmers said jokingly about Beasley.

Chalmers and Beasley also played together on the Miami Heat.

Before playing in the NBA, Chalmers famously delivered “Mario’s Miracle.” That three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left sent the 2008 National Championship into overtime.

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He showed he still is clutch when he hit the game-winning shot in Week One for 3’s Company.

Another former KU player, Darnell Jackson, almost joined 3’s Company. Chalmers called Jackson before the draft and said he wanted to select him, but he was taken by the Ghost Ballers at No. 3 overall before 3’s Company could select him at No. 5.

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It will be like a KU reunion on July 17 when Jackson’s Ghost Ballers play against 3’s Company.

“I’m excited, man, to play against my ex-teammates, my brothers,” Jackson said.

Those brothers — Jackson, Chalmers and Rush — represented KU’s last championship team — until the Jayhawks defeated North Carolina in April.

Wright, who left for the NBA before KU won the 2008 title and now plays in the Taiwanese professional league, was watching on his phone via YouTube while lifting weights with his Taichung Wagor Suns teammates as KU fell behind in the first half.

“All of my teammates,” Wright said, “they were giving me flack.”

While Wright watched the championship comeback overseas, Chalmers and Rush saw it in person at the Caesars Superdome, as KU stormed back from a 15-point halftime deficit.

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As an added twist, Brandon’s nephew, Shea, played at North Carolina under Roy Williams and was at the game too.

“He came over at halftime with his beers and stuff and just being super happy and talking mess,” Brandon Rush said. “And then he disappeared for the rest of the night.”

Unlike the KU players of the past, current ones can profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL). And KU is at the forefront of NIL. School alumni have formed a collective called 6th Man Strategies to support their current players.

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“It’s a good time to be a college athlete right now,” Rush said. “They’re giving you millions of dollars just for your face and image and your likeness. It’s good to see. I love it.”

After earning NBA paychecks for nine years, the soon-to-be-37-year-old Rush is now working for CBS Sports and appeared on Inside College Basketball last year.

After winning two NBA titles with the Heat as part of his nine-year NBA career, the 36-year-old Chalmers played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League last year and remains undecided regarding his basketball future.

“I’m just gonna see what falls into my lap,” he said.

The 35-year-old Wright played four years in the NBA and then had an extended career abroad. He hopes to play two or three more years internationally.

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With Wright playing overseas, the BIG3 has served as a way for him to reconnect with his former KU teammates. It’s something he reflected on after a 3’s Company practice in Chicago.

“It’s great,” he said. “This is kind of like the reset for me, just trying to get definitely more in touch with everybody as we have these types of moments, with this camaraderie.”