SAVOY — Kendall Gill joining the BIG3 Basketball League gives Ice Cube's creation just as many former Illini that are currently in the NBA.
And that's if Deron Williams catches on after playing out the end of the 2016-17 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers after being waived by the Dallas Mavericks. If he doesn't, Gill and Brian Cook — selected in the inaugural BIG3 draft — will outnumber Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard.
Gill would like to see his alma mater get back to the kind of NBA presence it had from the late 1980s and into the '90s when multiple Illini were playing at the highest level.