Over the last year, 3-on-3 basketball tournaments have risen in popularity and become an event on its own. FIBA announced that they'll be adding 3-on-3 basketball to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and Ice Cube has taken his Big 3 League and made it a nationally beloved event by NBA fans and players alike. This weekend, Mountain Dew will be hosting a 3-on-3 tournament called the Dew NBA 3x Tour.
Following their stops in Chicago, Miami, New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, Dew NBA 3x will be making it's final stop as it closes out the tour in Los Angeles. Ahead of the final 3-on-3 tournament, set to take place at Venice beach, the event's hilarious social media host, Brandon Armstrong, better known as the popular NBA impersonator and MVP of the 2017 NBA Celebrity All Star Game BDotADot5, sat down with ClutchPoints to give fans a better understanding of how the tournament works, and a sneak peek at a number of fan-interactive events, and even some guest NBA stars with a chance to win NBA 2K18.
Tomer Azarly: You guys are hosting the Dew NBA 3x event this weekend. Can you tell the fans a little about the event?
BdotAdot: Yessir, it's this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Games start at 11AM and goes until 7PM. We've got an NBA 2K tournament as well. It's open to the public, right on Venice beach.
We have 4 different basketball courts, we have fan interaction court, we have a three-point contest to win $500, skills contest, and knockout. The overall thing is that this is the final stop in the tour. This is where all the teams, both women and men, come together to compete for $20,000 and a chance to go to Colorado to possibly play in China for the official FIBA 3-on-3 competition.
TA: For those who don't know, how does the tournament work and how did it start?
Bdot: Well, it's been going on for 5+ years now. It's basically gives an opportunity to basketball players to compete on a level and get exposure that they weren't able to get via college or semi-pro. It's open to professionals overseas and non-professionals as well. In order to register, you have to go online. The max you can register is 4 players; you send in your highlights and we choose the best. Like I said, this is the last stop, so we just want the best basketball possible; the most fun and fan-interactive basketball we can get it.
TA: Are there going to be any guest stars there?
Bdot: Yeah, we have a lot of special celebrity guests, especially since it's out in L.A. You never know who may pop up. We've got my guy Baron Davis. Baron should be out there. A couple of Lakers guys (Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson) will be around. We have a secret celebrity artist that'll be performing also. Ronnie2K will be there with a possible chance to win free copies of NBA 2K18. I don't want to give it all away, but it'll be our best one for sure.
TA: Are the fans going to get to see any impersonations from you?
Bdot: Oh yeah, of course! I'll be doing the impersonations on the main court and the fan court. We chose this location for an actual impersonation contest. Whoever does the best impersonation of a player gets a prize.
TA: Will you be interacting with the fans there?
Bdot: Yeah, I'll be there all day from 11AM to 7PM just walking around from court to court, interacting with fans, playing knockout, and 1-on-1.
TA: How did you start with Dew NBA 3x?
Bdot: Well, I actually played in the one last year. My guy Jeff came and woke me up in the morning saying, ‘Man, come to the 3-on-3 tournament!' I was like, ‘Bro, I'm tired, I'm not trying to get up right now.' But he made me get up, we played in the tournament. It was only 3 of us, we only had 3 guards. We didn't know the rules, we didn't know anything, so it was all new to us. We advanced to the quarterfinals, but we ended up playing a really big team. They ended up beating us by two, and that's when I got a chance to meet Jeff, who's the organizer of this whole event. We talked and he asked me if I wanted to be the social media host for the tour we have this year and I said of course.
TA: So what's this experience been like for you, traveling around the nation hosting this event?
Bdot: Oh man, it's been dope. I've been able to visit different cities that I hadn't been able to and always wanted to visit when I was younger. It's great to see the different types of basketball in the different regions of the United States. From Chicago to Miami to San Francisco, you get to see the different types of basketball played in each borough, each region. Like New York, they're really aggressive and cocky and they play with a chip on their shoulder. In Miami, they're very rugged and they get right to it. And in Chicag… Man, Chicago was just a really good event.
It's basically great being able to interact with a lot of different fan, different basketball players, and being able to see good basketball this year.
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