The Los Angeles Times has made significant changes to its coverage of the Lakers and Clippers for the 11-12 season.

Brad Turner will replace Lisa Dillman as beat writer for the Clippers, which leaves Mike Bresnahan as the only traveling writer covering the Lakers for the Los Angeles Times.

Longtime columnist Mark Heisler has been laid off by the newspaper. 

Pistons guard Ben Gordon is one of four players who will continue to get paid if the NBA lockout stretches into the upcoming season.

All are clients of agent Raymond Brothers, who spread their 2010-11 NBA salaries over 18 or 24 months in case the lockout forces the cancellation of games.

The others are Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph, Mavericks forward Caron Butler and Clippers forward Al-Farouq Aminu.

Dirk Nowitzki will try to help his country reach the Olympics again.

The German Basketball Federation announced on Friday that both he and fellow NBA big man Chris Kaman will play for the national team at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

Should Germany reach the Final, they will book a place in the London Games.

If they come in third, fourth, fifth or sixth, the German national team will be invited to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"The break was very short, but I would like to help the German team be successful at the EuroBasket,” Nowitzki said to basketball-bund.de.

"I will try now to do everything to get top fitness and am looking forward to the time with my teammates."

Blake Griffin is not currently interested in playing overseas if the NBA has an extended work stoppage.

“I haven't really looked into going over there and playing for a team,” Griffin said in a phone interview with The Oklahoman. “But you never say never. I don't know what kind of situations are out there. We'll see how the end of this offseason shapes up, and I'll probably make a decision from there.”

Griffin, the reigning Rookie of the Year and Slam Dunk champ, said he is optimistic that the league will reach a new deal on a collective bargaining agreement so the season is not lost.

“I hope so,” Griffin said. “I know all the players want to be playing. We don't want to miss the season, so hopefully it does get done and everything goes how it's supposed to.”

According to reports from InterAksyon.com and SLAMOnline.com, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant, and New Orleans guard Chris Paul are headed to the Phillipines next week for a couple of exhibition games.

Sacramento's Tyreke Evans, Miami's Mario Chalmers, Minnesota's Darko Milicic, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers' DeAndre Jordan reportedly have also been invited to participate. 

The exhibition games will be played in Manila.

The NBA stars will play against the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team and an all-star squad from the Philippine Basketball Association.

The Clippers declined to raise season ticket prices for the fourth consecutive season despite a 7.9 percent jump in attendance, largely brought on by the rookie season of Blake Griffin.

The most expensive courtside seats ran $48,400 for a full 41-game home season. The cheapest full-season seats in the third level of Staples Center ran $396.

Kobe Bryant may take his talents to China during the NBA's lockout.

There are preliminary talks about a basketball tour to China this summer — and perhaps beyond — in which the Lakers superstar, who has called China a "home away from home" and has an enormous following there, would be the headliner with several other NBA stars forming two or three barnstorming teams.

Bryant and his agent Rob Pelinka are trying to put together the tour, said Minnesota Timberwolves rookie forward Derrick Williams, who is also represented by Pelinka.

Williams said several clients of Pelinka's agency, the Landmark Sports Agency, could be involved in the tour.

"Hopefully I would be able to do that because I've never been out of the country and I think that would be the best thing for me," said Williams, the former La Mirada High and University of Arizona star who was drafted second overall in June's NBA draft.