Opinion | NBA champion Jeremy Lin at ‘rock bottom’ and he deserves sympathy regardless of past success

What next for Jeremy Lin? The 30-year-old should be at his professional peak and the happiest he has ever been after winning his first NBA Championship ring with the Toronto Raptors in June. However, the Taiwanese-American has revealed that far from being on top of the world, he is at “rock bottom” as he told a Christian TV station in Taiwan this week. He has once again found himself a free agent after being cut by the Raptors and he has found free agency harder than ever. While Lin broke down in tears as he told the audience of his struggles, they cheered him on. “We love you” and “You’re the best” came the shouts from the crowd in Taipei. Reaction on the internet was not as supportive. “What does the Harvard educated, multimillionaire, NBA champion have to cry about?” was about the crux of it. This is reductive. Yes, Lin has made somewhere around the US$50 million mark from his NBA career – one that at almost a decade is twice as long as average. Yes, he went to Harvard. And, yes, he won an NBA championship ring. Heck, he was even the subject of a documentary on his breakout at the New York Knicks. ‘Rock bottom’ Jeremy Lin feels like NBA has ‘given up’ on him But none of that means he isn’t struggling emotionally as his future seems away from the NBA. Let’s take the money. He’s made a lot but could have made much more had anyone took a chance on him in the 2010 draft – and it was not much of a risk for the teams. View this post on Instagram TWO MILLION+ people at the parade?!?? Literally endless seas of fans who rooted for us! Ill never forget this day...thank you Toronto! #WeTheNorth A post shared by Jeremy Lin 林書豪 (@jlin7) on Jun 17, 2019 at 2:52pm PDT This week on Reddit, it came to light that Houston Rockets chairman Daryl Morey had told Moneyball author Michael Lewis about his regret over passing on Lin for Lewis’ 2016 book The Undoing Project. “He lit up our model,” said Morey. “Our model said take him with, like, the 15th pick in the draft.” They passed as did every other team. Jeremy Lin says he would play in Asia Morey revealed that when, 12 months later, the Rockets added the speed of a player’s first two steps to their scouting, Lin topped the charts. “He’s incredibly athletic,” said Morey. “But the reality is that every f******person, including me, thought he was unathletic. And I can’t think of any reason for it other than he was Asian.” While Morey has admitted that, not everyone in basketball has. There was even some of that in the fact that no Division 1 school recruited him out of high school. The effect of this bias is something Lin has spoken eloquently about, but it’s not too hard to imagine that he could have been the face of a franchise in a different timeline. Instead, after going undrafted, Lin was passed over and then skirted around the fringes of the Golden State Warriors before lighting up New York City with the Knicks in 2012. Even then there were numerous examples of bias in the media, particularly headlines. Not to mention the pressure of being an overnight star and shouldering the hopes of millions. The Rockets eventually got their man from New York but a “poison pill” free agency contract meant that staying in the city where he made his name was never an option. From Houston to a season each with the Lakers and Hornets before getting the big move to the Brooklyn Nets. Jeremy Lin’s Moscow move off because of health worries Lin signed on for a three-year US$36 million deal, the largest contract before the Nets went wild this summer for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. It was meant to be the perfect fit. A return to New York, a team that understood his ability and his marketability – one of the few Asian faces involved in the NBA and beloved in the US and overseas. His knee gave way and with it went his chance of sustained stardom to put the Linsanity period to bed. Lin missed all of the 2017-18 season and for a professional sportsperson they will often tell you that these are the darkest times. The drudgery of recovery, the lack of being involved and an inability to help teammates take their toll. As does the lack of competing at the top level when your identity is as an elite athlete. Lin moved to the Atlanta Hawks and then Toronto last season. While his time in Toronto climaxed with the city’s first championship, it was something Lin feels he did not “deserve”. He hardly played and his numbers over the season were among his career worst. “Free agency has been tough because I feel like, in some ways, the NBA has kind of given up on me. I always knew that if I gave anyone a reason to doubt, they would,” he said in Taiwan. Lin is entitled to his own doubts, but his whole career has been battling other people’s. Athletes are people too. Just as the fans are. While a good coach knows that some players need to be told to suck it up and some need to be given a shoulder to cry on, good sports fans should know the same. Mental well-being is finally getting the attention it deserves – even for the people who we think are living our dreams. Linsanity and the madness that followed has taken its toll on Lin’s mental health. We can only wish him well, in every sense.