NBA free agent Jeremy Lin in talks with Chinese Basketball Association teams, mainland media report
- Several CBA clubs are said to be in contact with player and his team over move to China
- The 30-year-old has been linked with teams in Russia and elsewhere in Asia
Chinese Basketball Association teams have been in touch with Jeremy Lin to offer the NBA free agent a contract, according to reports in mainland media.
Basketball reporter Jia Lei, who has almost 1.4 million followers on his Sina Weibo, wrote on Sina Sports that several teams have contacted the player’s people to express an interest in bringing him to China.
Lin told the assembled press he was seriously considering the CBA for his next move. He has been a free agent since leaving the Toronto Raptors this summer and has also received several offers from teams in Russia and elsewhere in Asia.
“Of course I am thinking about the CBA,” Lin said in Guangzhou on Friday.
NBA free agent Jeremy Lin open to China move but ‘won’t settle’
“I don’t know where I will be next year, so I don’t have expectations. I know what level I can play at, so if I don’t get that I won’t settle.”
The 30-year-old won the NBA with the Canadian side and he took the trophy to the annual charity All-Star game that he co-organised on Saturday.
Many of the players in the game were current CBA stars, further fuelling rumours Lin’s next club will be in China.
The Xtep deal, which will see the brand launch four signature shoes for Lin, has also added to speculation. This is their first foray into the basketball market and Lin is hugely marketable in China.
“I want to be happy, that is the main thing. When you are competing, everything is about the NBA. But I am 30 now, the main thing is to be happy,” Lin said in Guangzhou.
He has the potential to be a superstar in the CBA, both on court and commercially. Lin would also face less of the doubt that has plagued his NBA career.
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Lin’s happiness within the NBA has come into doubt, with the 30-year-old telling Taiwanese television the league had turned its back on him.
He had earlier said he felt the NBA had given up on him in an interview with local television channel GoodTV.
“Free agency has been tough because I feel like, in some ways, the NBA has kind of given up on me,” he said.
Jeremy Lin says he would play in Asia
Does all of this recent activity point to a future in China?
“If he appears in the CBA next season, don't be surprised,” Jia wrote.
