One of the UCLA basketball players detained last month in China said his school told him to thank President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE for helping to secure his release.

“My school wanted to hear it,” LiAngelo Ball told "The Breakfast Club," a New York radio show, on Wednesday.

“If they didn’t tell me to do it, it wouldn’t have been in there,”

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“Before I went up there, it was like, ‘You’ve got to thank him.’ I just threw him in there real quick right before I gave my speech.”

Last month, after the three UCLA basketball players were released from China, Trump questioned whether the players would thank him for the role he played in helping to get them released.

"Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump?" Trump tweeted. "They were headed for 10 years in jail!"

During a news conference upon their return, the three thanked Trump for helping to secure their release.

Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley apologized for their actions during a weeklong trip to China, where they were arrested and accused of stealing a pair of sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store in Hangzhou.

The issue escalated last month, when Trump lashed out at LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo Ball, for downplaying the president's role in securing his son's release from China.

Trump repeatedly blasted LaVar Ball for failing to thank him.

"It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence — IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair," the president tweeted last month.