Ron Artest to play in Big3 as a co-captain; Allen Iverson back as 3's Company coach
— -- Ron Artest signed to play in the Big3 on Monday, and Allen Iverson will return as a coach, the league announced Monday.
Artest, who legally changed his name to Metta World Peace in 2011, will play under his former name as a co-captain of the Killer 3s, who also have Chauncey Billups and Stephen Jackson on the roster. Jackson and Artest also were teammates with the Indiana Pacers.
Iverson, 42, is returning as coach of 3's Company. Iverson was suspended one game last August for his absence from one of his team's games. He later apologized on Instagram.
Artest, 38, is the first of eight co-captains who are joining the league as part of a previously announced expansion. A veteran of 21 NBA seasons, Artest played last season for the Lakers. He averaged 13.2 points per game in his career.
Trilogy, which won the 2017 Big3 championship, will return its full roster (coach Rick Mahorn, captain Kenyon Martin, co-captain Al Harrington, plus Rashad McCants, James White and Dion Glover) from last season as per league rules.
The league also announced that Mike Bibby has re-signed as captain of Ghost Ballers.
The 2017 runner-up, 3 Headed Monsters, who had the option to keep two of its players or start over and redraft, per league rules, chose to keep Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Kwame Brown.
Meanwhile, 25 players, including DeShawn Stevenson, Xavier Silas, Derrick Byars and Andre Owens, re-signed with the league and will be entered in the 2018 draft pool. Each team will fill its remaining three roster spots through the draft.
Full list of 25 players who re-signed to be part of draft pool: Eddie Basden, Kareem Rush, Hakim Warrick, Ivan Johnson, Marcus Banks, Mo Evans, Paul McPherson, Rasual Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, Kendall Gill, Moochie Norris, Andre Owens, Mike Sweetney, Al Thornton, Ruben Patterson, David Hawkins, Lee Nailon, Mike James, Dominic McGuire, Xavier Silas, Derrick Byars, Desmon Farmer, Brian Cook, Eddie Robinson?and Larry Hughes.
