BIG3 announces WNBA legend Lisa Leslie will coach one of the league's four new teams

Ice Cube’s BIG3 basketball league will expand from eight to 12 teams for its third season, announcing that WNBA legend and Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie will coach one of the four new teams.

Since retiring from a playing career that included two WNBA titles, three league MVP honors and four Olympic gold medals, Leslie joined the ownership group for the Los Angeles Sparks and has worked as a television analyst for ESPN and Turner Sports, among others. She joined the Orlando Magic’s telecast last January, and more recently expressed interest in becoming the WNBA’s next president.

In the meantime, she will work as one of 12 coaches in the BIG3, following Nancy Lieberman to become the second female coach in the league’s history. Lieberman led the Power to the BIG3 championship last season, capturing Coach of the Year honors. Leslie will coach the Triplets.

Leslie will join Lieberman, Gary Payton, Rick Barry, George Gervin and Julius Erving as Hall of Famers coaching in the fledgling 3-on-3 basketball league for former NBA players. The BIG3 will conduct its third season this summer, hosting the draft and filling out remaining rosters in the coming months.

The only question now: Why not let the 46-year-old Leslie try her hand as a player-coach?

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Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

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