We once knew a man called Jeremy Lin who had taken over the whole of the NBA with a sudden burst of supernatural playmaking, clutch shots and buzzer beaters. His era of “Linsanity” got everybody, including Kobe Bryant talking about the young man.
That Jeremy Lin has unfortunately lost his touch and has been jumping teams ever since 2012.
Sure, he won a title with a Kawhi Leonard led Toronto Raptors this year but did so without a lot of contribution from his side towards the betterment of the team. While just 30 years of age, while the man should be talking about winning more titles, it feels as if the end of his career is just around the corner.
Emotional and unable to hold his tears back while talking about his potential future in the NBA in Taiwan for GOOD TV, Lin’s words felt like those of a man about to lose all hope.
“In English, there’s a saying: Once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. But … rock bottom just seems to be getting more and more rock bottom for me… And so free agency has been tough because I feel like the NBA has kind of given up on me. And I always knew that if I gave anybody a reason to doubt that they would.”
Lin was on fire during his season with the New York Knicks in 2012 and averaged 14.6 points for 35 games but has been on the move (eight teams in nine seasons), unable to establish a home in any of the cities.
Injuries have not been kind to the Harvard graduate. His constantly nagging hamstring and a season-ending ruptured patella on the opening night in 2017 made him disappear from the court for a long time.
“I had one year of injury, two years of injury, and this was in the middle of my prime. Then last summer, out of nowhere, a trade. And I got traded to the worst team in the Eastern Conference. And that’s a tough place, because they’re rebuilding. And if you’re not young, you don’t really fit in. And in the basketball world, I’m really old.”
“After the season, I had to get ready for this Asia trip. And it was the last thing I wanted to do, because I knew for six weeks I would have to just put on a smile,” Lin said. “I would have to talk about a championship that I don’t feel like I really earned. I would have to talk about a [basketball] future I don’t know if I want to have. And honestly, it’s just embarrassing. It’s tough.”
“Nowadays I spend more time thinking about quitting,” Lin admitted. “I always tell myself if I have a son, I don’t want him to make the NBA. You don’t have to deal with fame, you don’t have to deal with living your life and having all your failures on display to the world.”
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