Jason Williams, Corey Maggette, Kenyon Martin, And Rashad McCants Were All Injured During The Debut Of The 'Big 3'

Jason Williams suffers non-contact leg injury at Big 3 League season opener @thebig3 @FOXSports @BleacherReport pic.twitter.com/j6D6pWpLWE

— Frank Fiorello (@FrankFiorello) June 25, 2017

White Chocolate just hurt his knees on a tough play. Walked off the court and into locker room #BIG3 pic.twitter.com/pe5kiOUvmR

— Anthony Puccio (@APOOCH) June 25, 2017

Corey Maggette, 37, was on floor holding his right knee and eventually got up and hopped on good leg to bench.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) June 25, 2017

DeShawn Stevenson was hyped, and so were his teammates. Corey Maggette joined the celebration even though he can't walk on his right leg.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) June 25, 2017

BallIsLife- Yes, four guys — Jason Williams, Corey Maggette, Kenyon Martin and Rashad McCants — all suffered injuries. Yes, Allen Iverson looked more like Oprah Sideverson during his few minutes on the court. But, how great was it to see White Chocolate, former #1 picks like The Oak Cliff Bully and one of the greatest and most influential players of all-time, Allen Iverson, lace up the sneakers and play in a NBA arena again? A packed Barclays arena that probably has Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov a little jealous. A packed Barclays arena full of  celebs (What’s up Whoopi), Nets (What’s up D’Angelo), rap legends (What’s up LL) and potential MVPs like James Harden — good to see he showed up for a Big (3) game.

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Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn't it? If you tug on enough sentimental heart strings then people are more likely to be blissfully ignorant to literally any and all problematic circumstances that could result from doing so. 

Admittedly, I knew a 3-on-3 league filled with the NBA's most lovable has-been's and never-was's wasn't going to produce an awe-inspiring brand of basketball, but -  in the interest of reliving my youth - I absolutely ignored the issues that could arise from having 35-45 year old men engage in highly competitive athletics. It took all of about 3 seconds for me to realize that four players going down to injury during one long day of physical exertion was less of a tragedy, and more of a foregone conclusion. It's almost as if l yearned so badly to see my favorite players of yesteryear take the court for the first time in a long time that I completely forgot they are now a bunch of fathers that are years removed from putting multiple lifetimes of miles on their aging legs.

Of course knees were buckling and backs were hitting the hardwood. That was such an obvious consequence of former professional athletes trying desperately to recreate the type of moves they made famous when they were a decade younger and in better shape than almost anyone else on the planet. I wish I had the foresight to tell the likes of Jason Williams, Corey Maggette, Kenyon Martin, and Rashad McCants that beforehand, but even I had my prognostic vision blurred by the fond memories of the hoop heroes of my childhood.