Jeremy Lin just finished up his stint with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G-League Bubble, how did he play? And what does it mean for his NBA prospects?
After failing to find a team at the start of the 2020-21 season, 10-year NBA veteran Jeremy Lin signed with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s G-League affiliate team to play in the G-League bubble.
He joined one of the more loaded G-League rosters which went into the G-League Bubble in Orlando for a similar tournament to that of the NBA months prior. Santa Cruz boasted two players on guaranteed NBA contracts (Allen Smailagic, Jordan Poole) and two two-way contracts (Nico Mannion, Juan Toscano-Anderson).
The 32-year-old guard was one of several seasoned NBA veterans that entered the tournament, some of the others being Jarrett Jack and Amir Johnson.
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Lin played nine games in the regular season and playoffs before being eliminated in the semi-final round to the Lakeland Magic (Poole, Mannion, and JTA didn’t play in the game).
Across that time, Lin 19.8 points, 6.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds with 50.5/42.6/87.9 shooting splits. The 3-point percentage came on just over five attempts per game which helped the Warriors get the third-most made three-pointers in the Gubble (I’ll be calling it that from now on).
The Sea Dubs was also second in the league in net rating but like the rest of the league, trailed the Raptors 905 by a long way in most offensive stats.
So, Lin was one of the better players on the second-best Gubble team that didn’t go amazingly well in the playoffs. Where does that leave him?
Entering this season, Jeremy left the Beijing Ducks to try and find a roster spot in the NBA. He just played well for the Santa Cruz Warriors but who’s calling him up to the big boys?
Two things we must go through; who needs point guard help and who is Lin competing with on the free-agent market?
Ask Jeremy, he says he’s not sure:
"“In the short term [we will] see what is out there, there are no other seasons that you could jump into other than the NBA,” he said to the South China Morning Post.“The CBA season and things like that are winding up and it’s waiting and seeing if a team felt like I deserve it or played well enough to be a part of their organization.”"
The first team that could probably do with some point guard help is the affiliate for his G-League team, the Golden State Warriors.
In their blowout against the LA Clippers on Thursday, Nico Mannion had the backup point guard responsibilities, over Brad Wanamaker who got a DNP – Coaches Decision.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Connor Letourneau asked head coach Steve Kerr about it who responded with:
"“I love Brad, and I feel for him that he’s not going to be in the rotation right now.”"
In 21 minutes, Mannion logged 10 points, two assists, and four turnovers. While he has the argument of youth and a possible role on the team for years to come, it might be worth them looking at a more stable option with Lin.
But then again, their more stable option was Wanamaker who they’ve decided against playing for the meantime.
Another team would be the Portland Trail Blazers who are still without CJ McCollum who continues to miss time and has no real timetable for return.
Portland is leaning heavily on 2021 Slam Dunk Contest champion Anfernee Simons in the meantime but shooting a career-low field goal percentage and logging a -16.6 in offensive rating on/off when he’s on the court isn’t exactly stunning.
Similar to the Mannion argument, Simons might still be in the future plans for the team and I’m sure they’re happy for him to learn through his mistakes now, but the Blazers don’t have a veteran like Wanamaker to turn to if need be.
But the Blazers aren’t opposed to signing former Knicks who had their best years in the early 2010s (see Anthony, Carmelo).
That’s only two teams but having capable point guard play for 48 minutes is critical to winning basketball and if he’s able to be a stable presence for 30 minutes a night in the Gubble, surely there’s a world in which Jeremy Lin can fill in some backup minutes in the NBA.
Who does he have to compete against? Currently, on the list of free agents, the “big names” are Yogi Ferrell, Quin Cook (who was just waived by the Lakers and signed to a 10-day in Cleveland), Tim Frazier, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Shabazz Napier to name a few.
It’s an uninspiring list of players, but this is Lin’s chance to get back onto an NBA roster. His competence could be the deciding factor here if any team wants a plug-and-play guard. Now we just have to wait and see who was impressed with his performance.