The UK basketball players taking part in the TBT in Rupp. And what they’re doing now.

It’s the middle of July, but there will be Kentucky basketball in Rupp Arena this weekend.

Lexington is hosting one of eight regionals for TBT — also known as The Basketball Tournament — and a team of former UK players dubbed “La Familia” will compete in the $1 million, winner-take-all tournament.

La Familia’s first game will be 8 p.m. Friday in Rupp against 305 Ballers, a Miami-based squad of professional players. Tickets are available in advance through the TBT’s website and Ticketmaster.com , and former Kentucky players — including new head coach Mark Pope — have been calling on fans to try and “pack Rupp out” for the event.

TBT is a 64-team, single-elimination tournament that will be nationally televised on Fox stations. If La Familia wins Friday night, the team would play at 2 p.m. Sunday, and a win there would mean advancement to the final game of the Lexington Regional at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Former UK point guard Tyler Ulis will be the head coach of La Familia, and his staff will feature fellow ex-Cats Sean Woods, Darius Miller and Jon Hood.

The roster is set at 10 players — nine of them former Wildcats — and was put together by La Familia general manager Twany Beckham, who also played for UK early in the John Calipari era. Three former Cats — Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague and Reid Travis — were originally committed to play for the team, but professional obligations elsewhere will prevent them from competing in the tournament.

Here’s a look at the La Familia roster going into game one Friday night, which will be televised live on FS2.

Eric Bledsoe

Seasons at UK : 2009-10.

Age : 34.

Sharing the backcourt with John Wall in Calipari’s first season as UK coach, Eric Bledsoe helped lead the Cats to the 2010 Elite Eight — their first trip beyond the first week of March Madness in five years — and his eight 3-pointers in the team’s first-round game is still an NCAA Tournament record for the program. Bledsoe was the No. 18 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft — one of Calipari’s original one-and-dones at UK — and his 756 career games in the league are the most of any Calipari-era player. The Alabama native now lives in California and played the past two seasons with the Shanghai Sharks in China.

Willie Cauley-Stein

Seasons at UK : 2012-15.

Age : 30.

Willie Cauley-Stein was part of two Final Four teams in his three seasons at UK and the most celebrated player on the Wildcats’ 38-1 squad in 2014-15, his final run in college. Cauley-Stein was a consensus first-team All-American and the national defensive player of the year that season before going with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He played seven seasons in the NBA — mostly with the Sacramento Kings — and got his first taste of international basketball this past season, when he averaged 9.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for Pallacanestro Varese in Italy’s top league.

Brennan Canada

Seasons at UK : 2019-24.

Age : 24.

A late addition to the La Familia roster, Brennan Canada has been away from Rupp Arena for only a few months. The former Clark County standout came to UK as a walk-on player in 2019 and spent the past five seasons as a valued member of the Wildcats’ program , often earning praise from Calipari and his more-celebrated Kentucky basketball teammates for his hard work on the practice court. Canada also grew up a UK fan and will be sharing the Rupp floor with several ex-Cats he rooted for as a kid. Canada started a job in medical sales with Stryker just last month, and he earned his master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotion in May.

Kellan Grady

Seasons at UK : 2021-22.

Age : 26.

Kellan Grady came to Kentucky for his final year of college after spending four seasons at Davidson, and he was the top 3-point shooter and third-leading scorer on the highly touted 2021-22 team that entered the NCAA Tournament as a 2 seed before being upset by Saint Peter’s. Grady spent his first season out of college with the G League affiliate of the Denver Nuggets before heading overseas for the 2023-24 campaign, averaging 8.4 points per game for Chorale Roanne Basket in France’s top league.

Aaron Harrison

Seasons at UK : 2013-15.

Age : 29.

A top-10 recruit alongside his twin brother Andrew in high school, Aaron Harrison was a starter for two Final Four teams in his only two seasons in college. His epic NCAA Tournament run — with game-winning 3-pointers to beat Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin on the way to the 2014 NCAA title game — will forever be remembered in UK basketball lore, and Harrison was actually the leading scorer on Kentucky’s nearly perfect, 38-1 squad the following season. After spending parts of three seasons in the NBA, he’s played overseas for the past six years. Harrison averaged 13.0 points and shot 38.8% from 3-point range for FC Porto in Portugal’s top league this past season.

Andrew Harrison

Seasons at UK : 2013-15.

Age : 29.

The starting point guard on those 2014 and 2015 Final Four teams, Andrew Harrison will be back in Rupp Arena alongside his brother for the first time in nearly a decade . Harrison ranks 19th on UK’s all-time assists list — fourth among players in the Calipari era — and he was the No. 44 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. After spending parts of three seasons in the league, he’s played overseas since 2019 and averaged 13.9 points per game for Yalovaspor BK in Turkey during the 2023-24 season. He said this week that he plans to play another three or four years of professional basketball before returning to the United States, where he and Aaron currently spend summers in their hometown of Houston.

Kerem Kanter

Seasons at UK : None.

Age : 29.

The only La Familia player that didn’t play for the Wildcats in college, Kerem Kanter still has a UK basketball connection. His older brother is Enes Kanter Freedom, who never played a game for Kentucky but became a fan favorite as a star recruit who battled the NCAA for eligibility during the 2010-11 season, practicing with Calipari’s first Final Four team in Lexington. The younger Kanter — a 6-foot-10 power forward — played his college ball at Green Bay and Xavier before embarking on a professional career six years ago. He averaged 8.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for ADA Blois in France’s top league this past season.

Daniel Orton

Seasons at UK : 2009-10.

Age : 33.

One of Calipari’s original one-and-done freshmen — alongside Bledsoe, Wall and DeMarcus Cousins — Daniel Orton was a backup center in his only season at UK but still went with a first-round pick in the 2010 NBA draft at No. 29 overall. He played 51 games over three seasons in the NBA before beginning a lengthy professional career overseas that included stops in several countries . Orton last played with the Taoyuan Leopards during the 2021-22 season in Taiwan, and the Oklahoma native now lives in Lexington, where he mentors young basketball players.

Nate Sestina

Seasons at UK : 2019-20.

Age : 27.

A graduate transfer from Bucknell on Kentucky’s 2019-20 team, Sestina provided an unselfish veteran presence for a team that featured Immanuel Quickley, Nick Richards and Tyrese Maxey, among others — a squad that Calipari proclaims to this day would have made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if not for the COVID-19 pandemic bringing a premature end to that season. Sestina helped lead Fenerbahce to the EuroLeague Final Four this past season and just last month signed a two-year deal to play for Valencia in Spain’s top league. He lives in Lexington in the summers, and he’s engaged to former UK volleyball star Madison Lilley, who is now an assistant coach with the Wildcats’ program.

James Young

Seasons at UK : 2013-14.

Age : 28.

The second-leading scorer behind Julius Randle on Kentucky’s freshman-stacked 2013-14 roster, James Young led the Cats with 20 points and seven rebounds in their NCAA title game loss to UConn that season. He was the No. 17 pick in the 2014 NBA draft and played 95 games (plus 13 playoff games) over four seasons in the league, mostly with the Boston Celtics. Young has competed overseas for the past five years — aside from a brief stint in the G League — and played for two different teams in Italy’s top league during the 2023-24 season.

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