The festival mood of the Chinese New Year has been felt in an unlikely place on the court of an NBA game in Washington DC. Two NBA teams, eager to tap into the ever-growing Chinese fan base, offered a special salute on the court, in recognition of the Chinese New Year.
"This is our Chinese New Year hat, our Chinese hat. That same Mandarin character is on the front of our jersey our team will be wearing tonight. So this will actually be the jersey they wear on the court. In addition, for the game, the guys are all going to be wearing this shooting shirt, which is the Mandarin as well as the Chinatown Arch which is actually less than a block away from the Verizon Center," said Zak Grim, entertainment manager of Washington Wizards.
"It's an honor, a great honor, especially internationally building a fan base over there and they are trying to make basketball, improve their basketball. It's an honor to have an opportunity to wear it, and it's big to be able to wear it on national TV," said John Wall of Washington Wizards.
