Yet players who spoke toThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age claimed they didn't care that Thursday evening's game between the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets,to be played in Shanghai,wouldn't be shown on Chinese TV - if it went ahead at all.
"I won't watch the game,won't buy its shoes and won't buy its clothing,"said Luan,37,who works in book publishing. He said he has been watching America's NBA for 20 years,"since the Michael Jordan era and I was 17".
The reason for the sudden boycott?"They should respect the dignity of our motherland."
Shooting hoops on a court surrounded by billboards for Nike that featured young Chinese NBA player Zhou Qi,a medical worker concurred:"Patriotism goes above all."
He said he followed the NBA even before Chinese superstar Yao Ming became an NBA All Star a decade ago.
The NBA commissioner Adam Silver landed in Shanghai a day earlier to try to defuse spiralling tensions and salvage two high-profile games to be played in Shanghai and Shenzhen after broadcasts and a fan event were axed.