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.
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."