Rodman, Kemp among NBA all-stars to play ball in Costa Rica

Former NBA stars will face off in Costa Rica as part of the “Legends of Basketball Latin America Tour 2012,” producers Arzeyut announced Tuesday.

The event will take place on July 28 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Heredia, north of San José. Featured stars will include:

•Dennis Rodman: The notorious hothead and tattooed (and pierced and hair-dyed) rebounding extraordinaire helped Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls build an NBA dynasty in the 1990s. Rodman parlayed his basketball talents into a brief movie career. The badboy dated Madonna and had a short marriage to Carmen Electra.

•Gary Payton: “The Glove” is considered one of the greatest point guards and defenders in NBA history. Although best known as the face of the now-defunct Seattle Supersonics, Payton won his lone NBA title in 2006 with the Miami Heat.

•Muggsy Bogues: At 5-3, Bogues was the shortest player to ever play in the NBA. He managed 14 yeas in the pros.

•Shawn Kemp: Often the butt of jokes for both his bulky weight and the fact that he fathered at least a half-dozen children with multiple women, Kemp was not too shabby on the court as a six-time all-star.

•Horace Grant: Best remembered for the goggles he wore while playing, Grant won four NBA titles.

•Jayson Williams: The former New Jersey Nets all-star was released from prison in April after serving a 26-month sentence for manslaughter after he accidentally killed his limo driver with a shotgun. Part of his sentence also concerned a separate drunk driving charge.

Other NBA players announced for the event are Bonzi Wells and Travis Best. A Costa Rican basketball squad also will be selected to play in the games of pickup basketball.

Tickets can be bought at www.publitickets.com or by calling 2582-2323. Forty-eight courtside tickets are available for $200. The full list of ticket prices are:

Diamond tickets: $200

Platinum: $150

Gold: $90

East and West Stands: $56

North and South Stands: $30