Update: Trilogy beat 3 Headed Monsters 51-46 Saturday in Las Vegas to win the first BIG3 title and complete a 10-0 season. Here’s the story of how Trilogy was built.

Rashad McCants’ NBA career lasted only four seasons, ending in 2009 at age 24 as a result of bizarre off-court circumstances. So when he showed up to tryouts for a new three-on-three league, the 32-year-old was ready to that prove Kevin McHale and others were wrong for these eight years since his last NBA game.

Kenyon Martin had only played against McCants nine times in the NBA — and his Denver Nuggets had won eight of those. But he had the first pick in Ice Cube’s BIG3 league’s first draft, and he knew who he wanted after watching McCants play in two exhibition games.

“It was a no-brainer for me to pick him, no matter what he’s gone through publicly with (the academic scandal at) North Carolina and whatnot,” Martin told For The Win this week. “That stuff is neither here nor there for me. It’s about basketball, it’s about winning. And he could help me win.”

Martin’s Trilogy team can’t stop winning. They’ve won all nine of their weekly games, only once even being particularly tested en route to an 11.1-point average margin of victory, a stunning number considering games only last to 50 points. Trilogy enters the inaugural BIG3 title game (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, Fox) against 3 Headed Monsters as an overwhelming favorite — thanks to an unusual but unstoppable roster.

Trilogy started with team captain Martin and co-captain Al Harrington, who were very successful long-time NBA power forwards. They then drafted McCants, James White and Dion Glover, three wing players who combined for barely more than 5,000 NBA points in their careers. While other teams focused on ballhandling and shooting, Martin built a team on the same kind of toughness that helped him reach an All-Star Game and two NBA Finals.

“We wanted guys that could do multiple things,” Martin said. “I don’t think you need a traditional point guard in this. Just guys that know how to make plays off the dribble, guys know how to play pick-and-roll basketball. … Having guys who can do multiple things and are not limited in what they can do is huge.”

McCants and White are well-known players from their college days, but neither got much of a shot in the NBA. Yet they’re arguably the two best players for Trilogy, with McCants as the team’s leading scorer and go-to creator while White plays smart, efficient offense and was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

They’ve clicked off the court, too, in part because this may be their best opportunity to show their skills to the American basketball public. Both have extensive international résumés but little to show in the NBA — something that drew both to the BIG3’s spotlight.

“Most importantly it’s just shutting the book on a career that never really reached full potential,” McCants told For The Win. “The years of a potential prime are vanished without a trace because of a few upper-level executives that decided to make my life a living hell. Ice Cube brought me in with a chance to reinvent myself.”

Don’t underestimate the chips on McCants’ and White’s shoulders. BIG3 commissioner Roger Mason Jr. says Trilogy’s success started with Martin being the first player to commit to the league and a high work ethic trickling down from there.

“I think it’s the things that happen off the court that people don’t see, it’s the morning meetings that they have for breakfast when they are meeting as a team and going over strategy and doing scouting reports,” Mason said in the BIG3’s weekly teleconference. “They are putting in time during the week. Kenyon Martin and Al Harrington working out together and practicing during the week and training. So I think there’s no surprise from my standpoint when I see them have success when I also see the work that they are putting in behind the scenes.”

Next up is the 3 Headed Monsters and BIG3 MVP Rashard Lewis, the team captain who has been a dominant force as the league’s top scorer at 21.2 points a game. Martin, unlike Lewis, hasn’t been able to relive his NBA glory days on the court because of a hamstring injury.

But Trilogy isn’t concerned.

“We know they’re going to be hard-nosed, that they’re going to be scrappy, that Rashard’s going to show up and score all the points,” McCants said. “But we know we have the firepower. That’s no knock against them, but we’re on a mission.”