The BIG3 is bringing its brand of basketball to Birmingham on Saturday.

The 12-team league features half-court, 3-on-3 games played by lineups loaded with former NBA standouts. For the third week of its 2019 season, the BIG3 will play three games at Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham on Saturday and three games at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Sunday.

In its third season, the BIG3 is making its first stop in Alabama. Including its playoffs on Aug. 25 in New Orleans and championship on Sept. 1 in Los Angeles, the league will play in 18 cities, with Birmingham joining Providence, Rhode Island, and Kansas City, Missouri, as the only stops without an NBA team.

League co-founder Ice Cube said BIG3 thought the Birmingham-Atlanta weekend made a great fit on the schedule.

"When we started the BIG3 what was great in our business model and how our league is structured was not being connected to any cities," the actor, rapper and music producer said. "Our teams are not connected to Denver or wherever. We're a league that can play games anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world. What's cool about that is we can go places that don't have a professional team, that don't get basketball 41 games a year.

"And so when we were looking at a complementary city --because we knew we were going to Atlanta -- Birmingham was the perfect location to be able to bring in this great league, and it's a way where our fans, if they wanted to see both games, they could make both games. If our Alabama friends wanted to drive up to Atlanta and make that game, it's not too far away, and if our friends in Georgia want to drive down to Alabama and make the game, it's not too far away. So it was just a perfect location for the BIG3."

Saturday's slate of three games tips off at 4 p.m. CDT in Birmingham with contests between 3's Company and Tri State, Aliens and Ball Hogs and Enemies and Ghost Ballers. CBS Sports Network will televise the games.

The two BIG3 players with Alabama basketball roots are part of the stop in Birmingham.

Former UAB standout Robert Vaden will return to the Magic City as a member of the Aliens 10 years after his last game for the Blazers. In two seasons with UAB, Vaden averaged scoring 19.3 points per game, and the Blazers won 45 games and ended both years in the NIT.

Former Central-Coosa standout Jamario Moon plays for the Ghost Ballers. He's already played professional basketball in Alabama with stints with the Mobile Revelers and Huntsville Flight in the early days of the NBA Development League. Moon went on to play five seasons in the NBA.

After two games, Moon leads the undefeated Ghost Ballers with 41 points and 17 rebounds this season.

Former NBA All-Stars on the teams coming to Birmingham include Baron Davis of 3's Company, Gilbert Arenas of the Enemies, Carlos Boozer of the Ghost Ballers and Jermaine O'Neal and Amar'e Stoudemire of Tri State.

Among the other players on the six teams' rosters are Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft who plays for the Aliens; three-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner Nate Robinson of Tri State and three 14-year NBA veterans -- Mike Bibby of the Ghost Ballers, Drew Gooden of 3's Company and Lamar Odom of the Enemies.

The six teams involved in the BIG3's Birmingham stop feature four head coaches who played their way into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame -- Nate "Tiny" Archibald of the Aliens, Rick Barry of the Ball Hogs, George Gervin of the Ghost Ballers and Julius Erving of Tri State.

The Hall of Famers will be guiding teams seeking to be the first to score 50 points in their game, although a contest can't end on a 50-49 score -- victories must come by at least two points. The BIG3 features a 14-second shot clock, the NBA 3-point line and three circles 30 feet from the basket for 4-point shots.

Tickets for Saturday’s BIG3 tripleheader start at $22.50 and can be purchased online.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.