Breaking | NBA free agent Jeremy Lin signs for Beijing Ducks in Chinese Basketball Association
- NBA champion signs contract to play for Beijing side in new CBA season
- Player’s Weibo and Douyin accounts confirmed local media reports of move
Former NBA champion Jeremy Lin has signed for the Beijing Shougang Ducks ahead of upcoming Chinese Basketball Association season, ending a summer of speculation over the free agent’s next move.
The deal had been reported in local media earlier Tuesday, with suggestions that there would be an announcement as early as Tuesday evening.
It appeared to have been confirmed on the player’s official Sina Weibo account, where he posted photos of him being welcomed to the team.
He also posted a video of him in the team uniform on the Chinese video app Douyin.
“Beijing, I’m here,” Lin says in Mandarin in the video.
The 31-year-old had been linked with a move to China’s capital in recent weeks but claimed nothing was official until he made a statement.
However, multiple media outlets in China were reporting that the deal is done and an official announcement was said to be imminent.
The topic has been trending on social media site Sina Weibo.
Video of him arriving at the club’s headquarters and putting on a Ducks baseball cap was also being shared on Weibo as excitement reached a fever pitch on the site.
Lin is the biggest signing made by a CBA club, dwarfing even the profile of the former Beijing Ducks star Stephon Marbury.
“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,” he said.
Lin had been on an Asia tour this summer during his NBA free agency. Speculation that his next team would be in the region has grown as the tour has gone on.
“I’ve always known that my journey in some ways would end in China,” the Toronto Raptors guard told website Radii on a recent visit to Shanghai.
The Harvard graduate become a global sensation during his time with the New York Knicks, in a period that was dubbed “Linsanity”.
Lin played for CBA side Dongguan Leopards briefly during the 2011 NBA lockout.
The Ducks have won the CBA championship three times in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
Lin joins former New Jersey Nets player Justin Hamilton and Ekpe Udoh, formerly of the Utah Jazz, at Wukesong Arena.
