Why Jeremy Lin Is Banned From The NBA
Jeremy Lin got banned from the NBA but why? #NBA Linsanity was born, the most talked about celebrity in sports. But now Lin is out of the NBA playing in Taiwan because even though he wants to play in the NBA, he has been black listed, banned. After winning the chip with Toronto in 2019, Lin said he feels the “NBA has kind of given up on me,” What really happened to Jeremy Lin?
Lin was chosen California’s player of the year in 2006 when he led his Palo Alto High School team to a state championship… but he didn’t get any athletic scholarship. Lin said, “Well, the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian American which, you know, is a whole different issue but I think that was a barrier.”
And at Harvard University, he heard more racist slurs than in the NBA, one being “Hey! Can you even see the scoreboard with those eyes?” but the NBA would be worse for different reasons.
Lin didn’t get drafted but that didn’t stop him from overcoming his first obstacle, getting into the NBA. In 2010, he got on the Mavericks summer league and gave number 1 pick John Wall the work, 11 4th quarter points. Lin was a crowd favorite.
And Lin ran with it. Ultimately signed with the Warriors, but even with this excitement, Lin wouldn’t really get much of a chance. 29 games, 9.8 minutes a game behind a young Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. He was more playing in the NBA D-league and then got waived.
He signed with the Rockets, but got waived again before the next season started. The Knicks gave him a shot in 2011, but again, more garbage time minutes, no responsibility. That was problem #2, no one had faith in Lin.
In his own words, “That was going to be it for me. My agent had actually called me before the game and said, ‘If you don’t play well, tonight will probably be your last game in the NBA.’ …
On January 28, 2012, the Knicks would lose, fail to reach 90 points for the 5th time in 7 games. Lin played 20 minutes, scoring 9 points and 6 assists and maybe that was enough because coach Mike D’Antoni looked for a spark and on February 4th, he would go to Lin off the bench in the first quarter, and by the second, Lin was balling out. He ended the game with 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds in a win. The next game, he dropped 28 points and 8 assists in another win. Dunking on the Wizards, playing on par with John Wall, and another win.
The Knicks would play the Lakers, and well Lin comes out firing, jumper after jumper, including the spin layup and Kobe was cooking Shumpert, you know the iconic. While Kobe was going off in the 4th quarter, Lin was right there with him and the crowd was going crazy. I remember watching this live and just losing my mind as my two favorite teams just going at it. Kobe ended the game with 34 points 10 boards, Lin with 38 points, 7 assists, and the win. Kobe knew who Lin was after this game and would eventually become teammates but we’ll get there. Lin still had an iconic game winner 2 games later against Toronto, the Knicks won 6 in a row.
But when Carmelo came back from injury was when the same problems resurfaced. Lin was a restricted free agent but the Knicks owner James Dolan said they would match up any offer up to a billion dollars.
In fact, Lin wanted to stay with the Knicks but they never even offered him a contract.
Two years later, the Rockets would trade Lin in a salary dump to the Lakers. Lin got his opportunity to play alongside Kobe. He then played a season for the Hornets in which he got solid minutes. ************************It was enough to sign a 3 year $36 million deal with the Nets, and it was exciting. But next season, Lin would rupture his patella tendon and be out for the season.
Now it’s been four years since Lin was seen in an NBA uniform… but why? But all this is caused by Problem #3, racism which is related to the dark secret I’m about to walk you through because to Lin, it caused his rock bottom.
You might think that with Lin’s injury history, maybe there’s some sort of justification, especially with hamstring issues and knee tears, but he played 74 games in last recent season. So, he got signed to the Warriors’ G-League team for the 2020 season and proved once again that he could hoop at the next level, averaging 19.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists with the Santa Cruz Warriors, ****literally one of the best players in the G-League.
We’ve heard xenophobic comments throughout the past couple years. Statements that Giannis could never be the face of the league because no one can pronounce his name, calling Jokic a tub of lard. The NBA has an obsession for home grown athletes.
So while Linsanity was perhaps one of the best basketball stories in this century, Jeremy Lin became another heartbreaking story. In 2021, Lin said his chase back to the NBA was officially over and said “When I add all of that up, I would say race has a role to play in that, I just don’t know how big. But, you know, my gut is that race definitely has a role to play.”
