Jeremy Lin says it ‘kind of sucks’ being only Asian-American in the NBA ‘rooting’ more Asians will follow

Jeremy Lin has explained of his mixed feelings at being the only Asian-American in the NBA.

In an interview with The Undefeated’s Cary Chow the 30-year-old was asked what it’s like to be the only Asian-American in the NBA.

“At times it kind of sucks. At other times it’s amazing. Amazing because you get to challenge everyone’s viewpoints and perspectives.”

Lin added that he hoped more Asian players join him in the league.

“I’m rooting for so many more Asians to come in. Last year, when I was with Brooklyn and we had Ding [Yanyuhang] on the Summer League team, I was like, ‘Dude, please make the team. We’d have so much fun together during the season.’”

China’s Ding has since been waived by the Dallas Mavericks and joined the Texas Legends, their NBA G-League affiliate.

He is yet to play for them having been sidelined by injury and had knee surgery in December.

Another Chinese player, Zhou Qi, was waived by the Houston Rockets at the end of last year.

Zhou is yet to find a new team in China having missed the registration deadline.

He is in action with China at the Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Jordan and play Syria in Lebanon on Sunday.

He is expected to return to the CBA with former team Liaoning Flying Leopards or Xinjiang Flying Tigers.

Maybe he will one day join Lin, in an interview at a recent national team training camp he told China Daily that was his aim. “The NBA has always been my goal. I can’t tell what will happen next, but I’ll try my best to return to the NBA.”

Ding hinted he had the same dream in a post-surgery post on his Weibo. He wrote that he was looking to get back on the court “for fighting for the FIBA World Cup next year, chasing my proper dream or going back to Shandong to win the CBA champions with my teammates.”

Lin was also asked about the success of other Asian-Americans such as Heisman trophy winner Kyler Murray, Chloe Kim and Naomi Osaka.

He revealed that Linsanity opened his eyes to race in a way that he had never been prepared for playing basketball.

“After I went through Linsanity, I learned the world wasn’t quite ready or didn’t know how to handle Asian-Americans, Asian-Americans in sports, Asian-American masculinity and a lot of different Asian-American issues.”

Lin spoke again of his difficulties with the Linsanity period of his career, when he broke through at the New York Knicks, and how he ran from the role of representing a whole race, just as he did at his press conference on signing for the Toronto Raptors earlier this month.

“Yeah. At first it was something I ran from and really struggled with. Now I embrace it way more and am more equipped to handle it,” he told The Undefeated.