Amar'e Stoudemire is returning to the basketball court for Season 2 of Ice Cube's Big3 League. According to the Big3, Stoudemire will be a co-captain of team Tri-State, which already includes Jermaine O'Neal and Nate Robinson, who recently signed on as a co-captain as well.
Stoudemire, 35, announced his official retirement from professional basketball in September after helping Hapoel Jerusalem win the Israeli Basketball Premier League championship last season.
STAT made the leap from high school to the NBA in 2002 after being selected 9th overall by the Phoenix Suns. He spent 14 seasons in the league, including stints with the Suns, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. He received first-team All-NBA honors in 2006-07 and was named to six All-Star teams during the course of his career while averaging 18.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game along the way.
In addition to Stoudemire, the Big3 has also announced several notable names for the second season, including Nate Robinson, Baron Davis, Metta World Peace, Drew Gooden and Carlos Boozer. World Peace will be teaming up with his former teammate, Stephen Jackson, as a member of Killer 3s, Boozer will co-captain the Ghost Ballers, and Gooden has signed on as a co-captain of 3's company.
Others former players, such as Greg Oden, Stromile Swift, Smush Parker, Jumaine Jones and Keith Bogans will be competing in the draft combine later this year for one of the 19 available roster spots. In the Big3's inaugural season, Team Trilogy, led by Al Harrington, Rashad McCants and Kenyon Martin, went undefeated and won the championship.