BIG3 Basketball League 2018 Draft Time, Order, TV Schedule and Live Stream

It's season No. 2 for the BIG3 Basketball League, the 3-on-3 hoops league created by rapper/actor Ice Cube and featuring a host of former NBA players battling it out on the court. 

Last year's inaugural season saw Trilogy win the championship. The team was captained by Kenyon Martin and featured the likes of Al Harrington and the league's first-ever No. 1 overall draft pick, Rashad McCants. 

The eight-team league will begin a new season on June 22, but before then, a handful of players will join the competition via a draft. Some of the players were on rosters last year, while others will be new to the BIG3. 

The BIG3 draft will be held on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. It will be televised live on FS1, and viewers can live-stream it at Fox Sports Go. 

With most of the teams returning the bulk of their rosters from last season, the draft is just three rounds, 19 spots in total.

Here is the draft order, per BIG3.com:

Round 1

1. Ball Hogs

2. 3's Company

3. Killer 3s

4. Power

5. Tri-State

6. Ghost Ballers

Round 2

7. Ball Hogs

8. 3's Company

9. Killer 3s

10. Power

11. 3-Headed Monsters

12. Tri-State

13. Ghost Ballers

Round 3

14. Ball Hogs

15. 3's Company

16. Killer 3s

17. Power

18. Tri-State

19. Ghost Ballers

The champion Trilogy don't have a single draft pick, as they are returning their roster intact and have also added Dahntay Jones, a longtime NBA veteran, per BIG3.com. This will give other teams a chance to improve their rosters and try to take down the squad that went undefeated last year and will return coach Rick Mahorn. 

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

Several notable names will be eligible for the draft. They include DeShawn Stevenson, Chris "Birdman" Andersen and Al Thornton. Perhaps the most intriguing player in the draft is Greg Oden, the former No. 1 overall NBA pick whose career was derailed by a string of injuries.

The 7-footer is 30 years old now, and last time he played professionally was in 2016 when he suited up for the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. It will be interesting to see if a team takes a flyer on Oden, whose big frame might hold up better over a short season and a half-court, 3-on-3 game. 

Adding a name such as Oden will bring plenty of intrigue to a league that has had its share of false starts and controversies. Allen Iverson, the player-coach of 3's Company, was notably absent for last year's draft and suspended for missing a game. 

RICH SCHULTZ/Associated Press

Last month, the BIG3 fired its first commissioner, former NBA player Roger Mason Jr., who has since filed a complaint against the league saying co-founders Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz have made him a "scapegoat for their financial blunders," per the Washington Post's Rick Maese.

Despite the setbacks and controversies, the BIG3 has a chance to establish itself as an entertaining product for fans who enjoy watching basketball played in a way similar to so many playground games across the country, or simply want a dose of nostalgia watching former NBA stars prove they still have something left in the tank.

Per CBS Sports' Colin Ward-Henninger, big names such as Metta World Peace, Baron Davis, Nate Robinson and Amar'e Stoudemire have already joined BIG3 rosters for the 2018, lending greater credibility to the basketball start-up.

The draft will hopefully flesh out those rosters with players who can not only attract fans but also increase the level of competition.