On Wednesday, The Athletics Shams Charania reported that former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick was going to invest in Ice Cube's BIG3 basketball league, a three-on-three touring circuit that was founded in 2017.
The report was rather timely, coming in the wake of the league potentially shutting down due to financial difficulties.
However, in a weird turn of events, an unnamed rep for the former 49ers QB spoke to Charania, calling the report on Kaps investment in the league inaccurate.
While the story is on BIG3 potentially closing shop, with players already preparing for the league to dissolve, the bigger story is on Charania, a trustworthy source when it comes to basketball news who ultimately got the report wrong -- at least as of now. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out as we've definitely seen reports refuting big-time deals get done anyways.
As ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio points out, the NFL announced their partnership with Ice Cube a week ago which is aimed to help increase economic equity and partnerships with Black-owned businesses.
The BIG3 was founded in 2017 by Cube and entertainment veteran Jeff Kwatinetz. Games initially were aired on FOX and FS1 before moving to CBS in 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but began playing games again in 2021.
As we ponder how and why Charania trusted his source that was close to the league, Kaepernick is attempting a comeback to the NFL. He most recently worked out with the Las Vegas Raiders in May. According to Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, the workout went "terribly." Kaps agent Jeff Nalley later refuted Sapp's claims.
“I guess Warren didn’t talk to the General Manager or the head coach,” Nalley said. “I spoke to the G.M. [Dave Zieger] several times and he said they all thought Kap was in great shape and threw the ball really well and encouraged any team to call him about the workout and he would tell them the same. I’m surprised Warren would say that, because it’s not true and you would think he would want Kap on a team.”
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