New York, United States (AFP) — The National Basketball Association (NBA) yesterday said all teams will be required to play the US national anthem before games, a day after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed he instructed his team not to play it.

Cuban told ESPN he directed the anthem not be played before Mavericks home games this season and said the team didn’t plan to resume the tradition, only for the league to countermand that move hours after the news broke.

“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with long-standing league policy,” NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass said in a statement.

NBA teams have played in home arenas this season but few have welcomed back fans due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and then only in reduced capacity socially distanced settings with face masks required.

Cuban told ESPN he made the decision in consultation with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

An NBA rule requires players to stand during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” but that rule hasn’t been enforced as players have used kneeling during the anthem as a way to protest social injustice, notably during last year’s quarantine bubble games after Black Lives Matter protests.