Jeremy Lin, who burst onto the scene in 2012, might need to work his way around the world in order to make it back to the NBA
You don’t commonly see a player with a household name just become unsignable. Save for Carmelo Anthony. Although, when you became a household name throughout 26 must-watch games it makes sense. Especially, if those games were seven years ago.
Jeremy Lin is every man in the NBA. Even though he makes up the small number of Asian players in the league. It is not hard for people to identify with Jeremy Lin.
Lin went undrafted, got cut multiple times before finding his way on to the Knicks. Everyone knows the story from there.
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As crazy it sounds people are still going to be talking about Linsanity in 20 years. How he scored 38 against the Lakers. Hit a gamer winner in Toronto. This scrawny little kid came out of nowhere and put the Knicks on his back to save their season.
Now, seven years later, we find Lin in a dark place. Most basketball fans have seen the video of Jeremy talking about how he thinks the league has passed him by. As summer draws closer to an end, it may be possible that Jeremy Lin will not be on an NBA roster this fall.
You can see Jeremy Lin’s passion to get back in the league. How he feels like he didn’t earn his ring in Toronto. Passion was never his problem, it’s been staying healthy, which Jeremy Lin has not been able to do.
In the past three seasons, Lin played in 36 games in 16-17, one game in 17-18 and 74 games coming off the bench for the Hawks and Raptors last season. During Lin’s time with the Raptors, he barely played and essentially never got off the bench for the playoffs.
What Jeremy Lin needs right now is to get healthy. Even when he battled through hamstring injuries during his the 2016-2017 season. Jeremy Lin still put up “over replacement player numbers” (0.9 Vorp).
After a patella tear in 2018, that’s when we saw Lin’s effectiveness drop. Causing him to miss every game but one of the 17-18 season. In the 18-19 season, we saw Lin play himself out of the Raptors playoff rotation.
While the NBA has not been calling Lin, there have been some offers from abroad. He recently turned down an offer from the Russian team. There have been more than a few rumors of him joining a Chinese team. Lin does have experience playing in China from the NBA lockout.
If Lin were to join a Chinese team, it could help him get “right.” Lin could find his rhythm in China. A return to form would make him a lock for many rosters in the NBA. Lin could look at his time there as a quarterback playing against the scout team. If Lance Stephenson can get $4 million to play in China, Jeremy Lin can certainly find a better offer than that.
Jeremy Lin should not become the next Knicks point guard to leave the NBA forever to go to China. The best part of the Chinese League is it ends in time for Lin to latch onto a contender, which could give him another chance to prove himself. Jeremy Lin does not need to be Linsanity to return to the NBA. Many NBA fans would love a sequel to that run.