Al Jefferson joins the BIG3 basketball league

Former Indiana Pacers center Al Jefferson is continuing his post-Pacer career in the BIG3 league.

Last summer, the Indiana Pacers declined center Al Jefferson‘s team option to free up cap space for free agency. Big Al never quite lived up to his contract on the court despite being a very valuable veteran influence in the locker room.

Upon being waived, Jefferson didn’t pull any NBA offers despite wanting to continue his basketball career. Because of this, he chose to sign in China for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, a team that would pay him lucratively to continue to dominate players in the post.

Jefferson ended up playing 10 games in China, and he put up a very “Big Classic” stat line. He averaged 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in only 23.1 minutes per night. He dominated in limited minutes but was limited in his number of games by various injuries, including a dental issue.

The CBA season is over, but Al Jefferson’s basketball endeavors are not. With no imminent return to the NBA or the Pacers, Jefferson decided to join the BIG3 basketball league. The league officially announced their big addition on Twitter:

Jefferson joins a league that former NBA players continue to flock to. About a month ago, the league announced the signed former All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Between No-Chill Gil and Al Jefferson, BIG3 is starting to pull together quite the crop of talented former NBA players.

Jefferson isn’t the only former Indiana Pacers player to join BIG3. Jermaine O’Neal and Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) joined the league. Al Harrington won the “Too Hard to Guard” award last season. The 3-on-3 league features a ton of Pacers icons. Jefferson joins that group, though his legacy with Indiana won’t be as memorable as any of the other 3.

Al Jefferson wasn’t an awesome on-court player for the Indiana Pacers, but he was a huge part of the great chemistry that the Pacers had in the prior two seasons. Hopefully, he does well in his new basketball endeavors.