Harden would smile and stir his food around as he normally does. Lin would be hiding under a giant dragon mask while Curry would say ‘Cheers!’ in Chinese.
According to the league, the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration will also be historic for the NBA.
Houston, Golden State, and Washington, which have scheduled games on that day, will be wearing uniforms with the team name in Chinese and host arena events.
Other NBA teams will also celebrate the holiday and pay tribute to Chinese culture, indicative of the importance of the growing Chinese basketball market.
A total of 51 games will also be broadcast or streamed in China, showcasing all 30 NBA teams for the first time.
It will be the first time that the NBA will be celebrating the Chinese New Year in such a way despite the fact that there have been other pure Chinese players who played for the league before including Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Wang Zhi Zi of the Miami Heat.
Lin is the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent and his popularity in the league soared to great heights when he played as a reliever to the injured Carmelo Anthony during the 2011-12 NBA season playing for the New York Knicks where he earned the moniker ‘Linsanity.’