A-list imports in shutdown limbo

With an expected mid-April restart now delayed amid the coronavirus crisis, the Chinese Basketball Association has put its season-salvaging effort on hold to leave players and teams stuck in limbo.

After recalling some foreign players and reassembling teams at training camps, the CBA has had to abruptly hit the pause button on its resumption plans for the 2019-20 season as the government resists the temptation to ease restrictions on mass gatherings.

The pushback has caught a group of A-list imports in a dilemma. Just as the pandemic was accelerating globally, the likes of ex-NBA stars Jeremy Lin, Pooh Jeter and Joe Young had rushed back to China only to realize the wait for the next opening buzzer to sound would go on.

Lin, an American guard who plays for three-time CBA champion the Beijing Ducks, has been a regular on Weibo to convey his excitement at rejoining teammates at the Ducks' west Beijing training facility after finishing a two-week quarantine on Friday.

"Now I am back home (on the basketball court)," Lin wrote in Chinese in a Weibo post accompanied by photos of him practicing shots on Friday.

"So much has happened over the past two months since I left Beijing last time. I spent the 14 days in isolation reading, thinking, reflecting and praying. Nobody should take life for granted. We will hang on together and it's time to restart," Lin said in an earlier post.

Lin, a hugely popular figure here largely due to his Chinese heritage, is averaging 24.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists for the Ducks as the franchise looks to secure a playoff spot in the 20-team league with 16 games remaining.

According to industry analyst Lanxiong Sport, 21 of the league's 46 foreign players and coaches had made it back to China before the country imposed a temporary entry ban on foreign nationals on March 28 to control imported infections.

Fujian SBS point guard Jeter is another who has returned to China with a positive mindset despite ongoing uncertainties.

The Los Angeles native, who has played for various CBA teams over the past eight years, finished his mandatory quarantine on the same day Lin did.

Jeter revealed in his online diary that league executives and club representatives will meet later this month to discuss alternative solutions for the CBA's pending restart.

"I know they're having a meeting on April 20 to discuss the future of everything, but as of right now, we're starting in May," he wrote in the diary published on slamonline.com on Sunday.

"I feel like we need this month to get back into that game type of shape. If we do start the season, it'll be great. But I'm not going to look at this like a waste of time if we don't," said the former Sacramento Kings guard.

"It will definitely be exciting to play again. I know China. And China definitely wanted to show it did things the right way. And once we play, it would be some type of history, especially being part of an organization and league that's continuing to play."

Staying in a hotel room for two weeks with three meals delivered, temperatures regularly checked and snacks prepared, Jeter said the biggest challenge during the quarantine was to maintain his workout routines with little or no gym equipment.

Recalling the moment his quarantine ended after retesting negative for the virus, the 36-year-old wrote in the diary: "You know that feeling a dog has in the car, when it keeps sticking its tongue out the window? That was me. LOL."

However, not everyone has coped as well with the physical and emotional challenges of being isolated from friends and families.

Nanjing Monkey Kings' American guard Young, who was selected by the Indian Pacers as the 43rd pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, provoked a backlash on Chinese social media as fans branded him arrogant after he got involved in a quarrel with staff at the hotel where he was quarantined.

According to a Chinese media report, the 27-year-old native of Houston, Texas, and a friend of his demanded that hotel staff bring them take-out food in between meals at about 3am on March 30, a time when all services were supposed to be unavailable.

It has been alleged the pair threatened to break out of the quarantine and fetch the food themselves.

Young later apologized in a video posted on the Monkey Kings' official Weibo account and pledged to abide by China's strict coronavirus quarantine rules following the "misunderstanding".

"In the future we (will) strictly abide by the Chinese epidemic prevention regulation rules and will improve our words and our deeds," he said.

"We will not cause any trouble with the people around us and cause any misunderstandings. I love China, I love Nanjing and this is the truth."