The CBA announced Saturday that Guerschon Yabusele of the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings basketball team violated association rules by not looking at the national flag of the People's Republic of China during the “March of the Volunteers” - the country’s national anthem.
Instead, the 23-year-old, a former two-season recruit for the Boston Celtics, was seen holding his head down, appearing to pray during the anthem on December 6.
中国职业篮球联赛（#CBA）南京同曦宙光篮球队外援前NBA选手法籍球员雅布赛莱（Guerschon Yabusele），12月6日在比赛前的中国国歌演奏中，因没有行注目礼而被CBA记严重警告，并罚款人民币1万元
— 關堯 · Alston Kwan (@Alston_Kwan) December 9, 2019
网友评论：加强外国人的爱国主义教育工作是外交部的当务之急。 pic.twitter.com/LlVi5G9evP
The former Celtics player responded to the CBA and fans, stating that his pre-game prayer has been grossly misjudged.
"I have the same routine, I've been doing this my whole career and I wanted to apologize for the people that took it Personnal [sic] because it was not my point," Yabusele said in a social media post, as reported by TMZ Sports. He did, however, clarify that he would be changing his behavior.
"I will show my respect during the Chinese national anthem and keep my head up for now on, Love you guys."
