Jeremy Lin announced his retirement from professional basketball Saturday night after a nine-year NBA career that saw him briefly become the face of the New York Knicks and the namesake of a sports phenomenon.
“As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away. I’ve spent my 15-year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” Lin wrote in a social media post.
Lin, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, grew up in Palo Alto, Calif. Spurred by his mother, he graduated from Harvard University, which does not give out athletic scholarships.
He went unselected in the 2009 NBA Draft, then signed with his hometown Golden State Warriors, where he played for a year. Lin’s debut drew significant attention from American and Chinese media, with the fan base’s large Asian population celebrating his arrival. However, his playing time was limited as the season progressed, and he spent most of the year on the bench.
The Knicks claimed Lin off waivers in 2011 after losing starting guard Iman Shumpert to an injury. Lin initially had to compete for a backup role and knew the team was considering cutting him. New York was struggling, though, and coach Mike D’Antoni gave Lin a chance to play in February 2012 as the team’s offense stalled.
Within days, Lin skyrocketed to fame after averaging 24.6 points, 9.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds over an 11-game stretch. Fans, peers and commentators embraced the 23-year-old’s breakout, dubbing it “Linsanity.”
Though the hysteria only lasted about two weeks, Lin’s aggressive style challenged racial stereotypes surrounding Asian American players. As a point guard, he’s credited with showing that Asian Americans were not passive players incapable of leading an offense. His ability to dunk showcased his athleticism and set him apart as someone able to spark a fire in teammates and fans.
Lin’s fame eclipsed most of his predecessors by a wide margin. Wat Misaka, a Japanese American who served in the United States Army during its occupation of Japan, became the first Asian American player in professional basketball in 1947. Like Lin, he played for the Knicks, who were then part of the Basketball Association of America, but Misaka’s pro career lasted just a year, during which he only played in three games.
In 1978, Raymond Townsend became the first Filipino American in the NBA, but his two-year run did not draw widespread recognition. Later came Chinese giant Yao Ming, who became a face of the league and an eight-time All-Star during his 2002-2011 career. Yao was a phenomenon in his own right. The Hall of Famer remains the biggest Asian-born star in NBA history and is a revered icon and executive in his home country.
Lin, though, was different. He was a homegrown star from Northern California who faced years of racist comments from competitors and home fans while playing at Harvard, then had to fight for a roster spot. The NBA hadn’t seen anyone like him perform at the level he did.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me,” Lin said in his retirement post.
“Linsanity” propelled the 6-foot-3 guard to All-Star status as he led a seven-game winning streak that helped send the Knicks to the 2012 NBA playoffs.
“It’s a great story,” Kobe Bryant said in a mid-“Linsanity” interview, a day after saying he had no idea who Lin was, and on a night when Lin outscored him 38-34.
“It’s a testament to perseverance and hard work. I am sure he has put in a great deal of work to always have that belief in himself. Now he has the opportunity to show it.”
The Knicks lost in the opening round of the playoffs after running into LeBron James and the Miami Heat, who went on to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy that season, but Lin rode the wave of support into the NBA history books multiple times over.
LeBron James praised Lin’s play and leadership ahead of their showdown in the 2012 NBA playoffs. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
The 89 points Lin scored in his first three starts with the Knicks were the most by a player since the 1976-77 NBA-ABA merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He later became the first Asian American to win an NBA championship as part of the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors.
Lin’s first and only NBA championship didn’t sit right with him, however. He publicly said he didn’t earn his ring after playing poorly during the Raptors’ playoff run. Once the season ended, he found himself without a team, going unsigned during free agency.
“I had this 12-game stretch where I didn’t play that well, and that was it,” Lin told Business Insider in 2022. “So you gotta think for me, after playing nine years in the league, I would expect like, OK, I have a reputation, people know what I can do. But I was pretty surprised at just how fast people were like, ‘OK, he’s done.’
“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 my gut is that race definitely has a role to play.”
The lack of NBA interest led Lin to the Chinese Basketball Association in 2019, where he became a star once again. Though he returned briefly to the U.S. in 2021 as part of the Warriors’ G-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, he spent the rest of his career playing in China and Taiwan, winning another championship and TPBL Finals MVP with the New Taipei Kings in June.
Beyond the Knicks, Raptors and Warriors, Lin also had brief stints with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks. A journeyman his entire career, he never spent more than two seasons with any team. Lin ended his NBA tenure averaging 11.6 points, 2.8 total rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
“I’ve lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world,” he said in his retirement announcement. “I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive every time I touched a basketball.”
(Top photo: Chris Trotman / Getty Images)
