Who is Jeremy Lin?
Born in Palo Alto, California, in 1988, Jeremy Lin excelled at basketball in high school and in college at Harvard University. He signed with the Golden State Warriors for the 2010-2011 season. After two rejections, Lin ended up with the New York Knicks for the following season. There, he quickly became a basketball phenomenon, helping the team secure a string of wins in February 2012.
Early Life
The middle child of Taiwanese immigrants, Jeremy Lin started playing basketball at his local YMCA at a young age. He became a top player at Palo Alto High School, and was named team captain his senior year—the same year he and his teammates captured the state title. In addition to being a strong athlete, Lin also excelled at his studies, earning high marks in all of his classes. He served as the editor of his high school newspaper and worked as an intern for California senator Joe Simitian for a summer as well.
Despite his prowess on the court, Lin couldn’t land a college basketball scholarship. He attended Harvard University, where he became a force to be reckoned with. During his four years there, Lin played 115 games and averaged 12.9 points per game, and was named to the All-Ivy League First Team in his final two years. As one of the only Asian-American players in his division, life on the court wasn’t always easy for Lin. Both fans and competitors hurled racist slurs at him, but he didn’t let these nasty comments deter him.
Career Breakthrough
Lin got picked up by the New York Knicks and took the sports world by storm in February 2012. After spending several games as little more than a benchwarmer, he proved he deserved a place in the starting line-up when he scored 25 points against the New Jersey Nets, helping his team to victory. He quickly became an instrumental part of a seven-game winning streak, earning more points than the legendary Kobe Bryant in a match-up against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the course of roughly two weeks, Lin went from unknown athlete to an international basketball star. He appeared on the covers of numerous magazines, and replicas of his No. 17 jersey soon became a top seller. The media and fan frenzy around Lin—nicknamed “Linsanity”— spread across the globe, and Lin emerged as an inspiration to many.
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That April, however, Lin was benched for the rest of the regular season because of a knee injury. He had to undergo surgery to fix the problem. His final game with the Knicks was on March 24, 2012, against the Detroit Pistons.
Once in danger of being cut from the team, Lin had become one of the sport’s most sought-after stars. His original contract was only for $762,195, but he received a $25.l million offer from the Houston Rockets in July 2012.
Lin went on to signed with the Houston Rockets (2012-2014), the Los Angles Lakers (2014 to 2015), the Charlotte Hornets (2015-2016), the Brooklyn Nets (2016-2018), the Atlanta Hawks (2018-2019) and the Toronto Raptors (2019) before moving east to play for the CBA with the Beijing Ducks (2019-2020). Lin returned to the NBA for a season in 2021, where he played for the Golden State’s G team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, before returning to the Beijing Ducks.
