John Wall on UK’s impact on the NBA: ‘We run the league’

When asked about the impact of former Kentucky players in the NBA, Washington Wizards star John Wall put it simply.

“We run the league,” Wall said Tuesday at a morning shootaround ahead of the Wizards’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans. “We’ve got a lot of pros. We’re going to get more and more every year. It’s like a brotherhood.”

The comment was part of a Yahoo.com story by Chase Hughes previewing that night’s game, which featured Wall and ex-Cat Jodie Meeks on one side and UK alums Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo, Darius Miller and DeMarcus Cousins on the other.

Wall welcomed the thought of playing with Cousins again. The two were part of Coach John Calipari’s first recruiting class at UK.

“If it happens, it would be great. But it’s not nothing I think about during the season,” he said.

After the game Wall was asked about Cousins’ penchant for trash talk.

“He’s probably the worst in the league,” Wall laughed. “But that’s him. That’s how Boogie is. Boogie likes to talk junk.”

During that conversation, Cousins appeared just outside the Wizards’ locker room to remind Wall they had postgame plans and not to speak negatively about him, according to the Associated Press game story.

The Wizards got off to a blistering 36-19 first quarter start at home to control the game against the Pelicans from the outset. Wall had 18 points and 10 assists in the 116-106 win. Meeks had three points and two assists in 17 minutes off the bench.

Davis scored 37 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Pelicans while Cousins scored 26 points with 13 boards in the loss. Rondo went scoreless and played just 14 minutes, while Darius Miller scored two points and saw his 22 game streak with a made three-pointer snapped.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 1:40 PM with the headline "John Wall on UK’s impact on the NBA: ‘We run the league’."