Eight former Kentucky players, including Rajon Rondo, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins will play in an exhibition game against the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is coached by John Calipari and includes Francisco Garcia.

When the Orlando Magic pulled off a pair of blockbuster trades with the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards in December, Dwight Howard was napping. No one on the Magic asked his opinion. No one asked if he was OK with the trades.

Howard found out when the rest of us did: once the trades were completed.

Turns out, Howard had a problem with that.

“I wanted to be more part of the process a little more,” Howard said in a radio interview with 790 The Zone in Atlanta. “I had to step out on the court and I wanted to make sure that the people I played with wanted to go out and play hard every night. My only issue was the fact that I didn’t really have a chance to be involved, but I think with the guys that we brought in we still have an excellent chance of winning, but we all have to be on the same page.”

Washington Wizards’ power forward Yi Jianlian will join the Chinese national team for the Continental Cup tournament to be played in Haining and Guangzhou from August 1-9.

Defending champions Australia, Russia and Angola, as well as China will take part in the Haining leg from Aug 1-4.  New Zealand will replace Australia to join Russia, Angola and the hosts play in Guangzhou from Aug 6-9.

Both legs will feature a round-robin format first with the top two teams playing the final, and the other two playing the 3rd place playoff.

Yi will join the Chinese squad following the completion of the second leg of a four-nation tournament to be held in Yongcheng, Henan province, on Sunday.

Gilbert Arenas sent out some interesting tweets on Thursday night, implying that the Wizards leaked the story about him bringing guns into the locker room.

Arenas tweeted “everybody knows about my troubles last yr…the only reason you do know about it is becuz my money making days were up.”

He continued, “as long as ur making sumbody lots of money they will let u do what ever u want…when ur time is up they will expose u to the world.”

He also added “if u ever hear about anything in a locker rm is becuz sumbody in high power wants it to get out.”

John Wall got the best of Julius Hodge in the end, drawing a foul in a tied game with 0.9 seconds left and making his free throws to give Triangle Gastroenterology a 73-71 win over 751 South in a Greater NC Pro-Am summer league game on Tuesday night at N.C. Central.

"This is the type of game I like when the crowd gets into it, packed house, you put on a show," Wall said. "It's different than running plays. It's kind of like street ball, but it's inside so I enjoy playing in it."

All three ACC schools were represented in the game - Wall was teamed with incoming UNC freshman P.J. Hairston, while Hodge was joined by UNC graduate Jawad Williams, Duke senior Miles Plumlee and Blue Devils recruits Quinn Cook and Marshall Plumlee.

"Especially because of the NBA lockout it's good to come out here against some quality competition and showcase my skills," Hodge said.

The crowd was treated to monster blocks and a reverse two-hand slam from Hairston, strong drives from Cook and powerful follow-up dunks from Mason Plumlee. But the biggest cheers were reserved for Wall, including a spin move that ended in a no-look between-the legs pass to Durham Hillside graduate Trent Bivens for a layup.

China's national team coach Bob Donewald, when asked about Yi Jianlian, said to FIBA.com: "We're a little bit of a different animal over here …
 
"These kids will play. They're not asked to play. They actually want to play. They're hungry to play.
 
"In China, the players play."

Wizards assistant coaches Ryan Saunders and Sam Cassell visited with Nick Young, Jordan Crawford and JaVale McGee in Los Angeles for three days during the month of June in preparation of a lockout and provided a program that they intend for him to follow.

“They gave us a little workout sheet, program and things they want us to work on. They broke it down pretty good, too. They put a lot of time in,” said Young, who plans on improving his ballhandling and his ability to do more catch-and-shooting. “It’s going to be a lot of open shots with John [Wall] and Jordan and the players that we have. I’m staying ready. The only thing we can do is stay in shape and stay ready. You never know when you’re going to have to be ready. I’m just sticking to my same routine, the same things I’ve been doing and trying to build off the year I had.”

The Wizards have already tendered a $3.7 million qualifying offer to Young, giving them first right of refusal for any offer sheet he may sign, based on the previous rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

“It means a lot. I put in some years and I got a chance. They are sticking with me, so that’s a sign of them sticking with me,” Young said. “The Wizards are all I really know right now. I talked to the coaches, and Ernie [Grunfeld] and the people in the front office. You never know how it goes. It’s up to my agent [Aaron Mintz] and I hope they can work something out.”