After holding a glimmer of hope that Eduardo Nájera may don the green and red for Mexico, that hope crashed when the NBA ruled that it wasn’t in their best interest.

It was announced today that the 10-year NBA veteran will not participate in this year’s FIBA Americas Championships.

Najera was unable to receive clearance from his NBA club, the New Jersey Nets, to play in the tounament. The Nets invoked their right to refuse Najera because he had not fully recovered from an injury, a hernia surgery he had back in March.

“I would like to (play), but I haven’t recovered from the operation (hernia),” Najera said.

NBA teams cannot prevent their players from playing in international competitions during the offseason as long as the player has the requisite insurance. The exception, which was used with Najera and  by the Mavs in J.J. Barea’s situation, is when a player is injured or recovering from an injury.

NBA guard Earl Watson will also miss the tournament after failing to obtain the right papers in time.

Without Najera and Watson, the Mexican National Team will reply on a frontcourt featuring veteran center Horacio Llama qne Lorenzo Mata-Real, coupled with the scoring of Romel Beck and . Well, that’s if Beck and company aren’t suspended after their fight with Uruguay on Saturday.

Najera has not played for his homeland Mexico since 2003.