Jeremy Lin has spoke of his journey from being “most popular person on the planet” during Linsanity to being too ashamed to leave his own home, in a show on Taiwan’s GOOD TV. Lin returned to the Christian television station on Saturday night a year on from an interview where he said that he was at “rock bottom” during NBA free agency after receiving no offers from teams. Now after a year in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Beijing Ducks Lin is preparing to find a new NBA team and return to the league and he spoke of the journey that got him there, Linsanity and the disappointments before leaving for China. Referencing the rise in anxiety recorded in the US this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Black Lives Matter and natural disasters, the 32-year-old recalled a time when he was fearless. Lin describes panic attacks over Beijing Ducks failure as anxiety crippled start “When I was young I was known for being brash, arrogant, bold and I remember when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old and I told my mum, ‘mom, I’m gonna make the NBA one day.’” “I always had this fearlessness about me and as I went into my NBA career I remember I came onto the scene in 2012 playing for the New York Knicks and I had an unbelievable run and I was able to make some history. “That stretch was called Linsanity and at that time I was literally the most popular person, the most popular person, on the planet. I had everything going for me. I had so much success. I was playing out of my mind and it was so far above and beyond anything I could have dreamed of. “But the next few years after that I started to really experience a lot of let downs, a lot of failure and it got to the point where I was so ashamed to even walk outside, I didn’t even want to leave my house, I didn’t want to go on my social media, I didn’t want to go on ESPN. “I was just so ashamed because everything I worked so hard to achieve I started to lose. I lost my starting position, I lost a lot of endorsements and I lost a lot of the popularity. Jeremy Lin putting faith in his NBA dream after ‘most difficult decision’ “So many fans that used to support me no longer supported me. During these few years I remember telling myself, ‘you know what, I’m just going to keep working, I’m going to keep getting better.’ “Every time I would get knocked down I would keep standing up. I went through so many different things and then I got traded. I changed teams and I went through some other experiences but I always kept telling myself, ‘just wait. The minute I get this opportunity, I’ve been working so hard that the minute I get this opportunity I’m going to show everybody.’ “That opportunity came four years later, the summer of 2016, I signed a contract with the Brooklyn Nets as a starting point guard for a coach that loved me and an offensive system that perfectly suited me. “I remember going into that upcoming season and I was like, this is everything I’ve waited for, this is everything I’ve dreamed for. That first season came and I had three straight hamstring injuries and missed 60 games and again I was devastated. “But I told myself, ‘You know what, get up, rehab, do everything you need to do.’ And I put in such an amazing month of work and the following season came around and I was like, this is it. “First game of the season I go up for a lay-up, I come down on my knee, a complete tear of my patella tendon. I miss all 82 games that season and I can’t even explain what it’s like during those six years since Linsanity. “To go through all those different disappointments and even from there I was still like ‘You know what, I’m gonna get keep getting back up. I’m gonna rehab for a year straight. I’m gonna make my body right. I’m gonna get my game to be even better. I’m gonna come back stronger.’” “Then in the summer I got traded and by the end of that season I wasn’t even able to make it on the court and be a part of the rotation. I was basically just getting DNPed, which stands for Did Not Play, and again I was like, you know what, that was my first year back from multiple injuries, I’m just gonna keep working, I’m getting better, I’m getting better. “But then free agency came around last summer and I got no NBA contracts. I remember thinking to myself, it was the first time in nine years that I had zero contract offers from any NBA team. Jeremy Lin chases NBA second chance but teams should be chasing him Lin then referenced his appearance on GOOD TV last year: “I was bawling, I was crying talking about the pain of losing my NBA dream. It just seemed like this climb and this journey and this path was so difficult that every time I calmed the storm the boat would get rocked again.”