Ice Cube Explains Why Big3 Offered $5 Million To Caitlin Clark But Not Angel Reese
The rapper founded the 3-on-3 league in 2017 and has been working hard to recruit talent.
In 2024, Cailtin Clark turned down a $5-million offer to play in the Big3. That same offer was not extended to Angel Reese.
Launched by rapper Ice Cube and his business partner Jeff Kwatinetz in 2017, the Big3 is a professional 3-on-3 basketball league featuring mostly former NBA players or younger athletes who are looking to break through. Clark could have been the league's first female athlete, but the former Iowa superstar decided to pursue the WNBA instead.
TMZ recently caught up with Ice Cube to ask him if — given how well she's performed lately — there might be a deal on the table for Reese to join the Big3.
The simple answer? No.
Ice Cube says Angel Reese won't get the Caitlin Clark $5-million offer from the Big3.
(Getty Images)
According to the rapper, corporate sponsors were willing to throw piles of money at his league if Clark were to join. Those same parties, he explained, "didn't tell us the same thing about Angel Reese."
"I don't think we can make that same offer because it won't have the same impact to the league," Ice Cube said.
On the surface, it might seem crazy for Clark to play in the WNBA for roughly $76,000 a year when she could have teamed up with Ice Cube for two years and $10 million. But the Indiana Fever star isn't exactly hurting for cash. According to Sportico, Clark's WNBA salary made up only 1% of her total earnings for 2024, as she raked in approximately $11 million in endorsement money alone.
Meanwhile, Reese is doing just fine herself. The Chicago Sky forward signed on with Unrivaled — a women's 3-on-3 league founded by WNBA veterans Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart — where she made a six-figure paycheck (on top of her WNBA salary) and earned another $50,000 when her team won the championship in the league's inaugural season.
This month, Reese also got a signature shoe with Reebok and was announced as a cover model for NBA 2K26.
So clearly, some advertisers are plenty willing to invest in her — even if that doesn't include the Big3 backers.