Jeremy Lin hints at NBA retirement but he’s no longer shy and retiring
- No contract this season for ‘Linsanity’ star - so what comes next for 32-year-old?
- More to come on and off the court, with possible China return on the cards along with activism and business savvy
So what now for Jeremy Lin?
The deadline for an NBA team to sign him has come and gone. That was on May 16, the end of the regular season. “In my mind was an imaginary circle around this date for an NBA call-up,” Lin said in a thoughtful post on social media explaining his feelings after missing out on another shot in the big league this season.
Now that date has a cross through it and Lin has hinted that he might even retire, given his message to those he has opened the door for.
“To the next generation of Asian-American ballers – man, I so wish I could have done more on the NBA court to break more barriers – esp[ecially] now – but you guys got next,” Lin wrote.
“When you get your shot, do NOT hesitate. Don’t worry whether anyone else thinks you belong. The world never will. If there’s any chance to doubt, they will. But when you get your foot in the door, KICK THAT DOOR DOWN. And then bring others up with you.
“I didn’t get it done, but I have no regrets. I gave my ALL and hold my head high,” the 32-year-old wrote.
‘No regrets,’ says Jeremy Lin after NBA snub
“I killed it in the G League and objectively showed it being a league leader in all categories a PG should and shooting career-highs across the board,” he wrote on social media of his time with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
What comes next for the multimillionaire Harvard graduate?
He was still hooping this weekend, as photos and videos of his workouts proved. Lin has been working on shooting threes from deeper range, adding another string to his bow even when it appears NBA teams have decided that he is finished as a force.
Does he wait it out for the start of next season and try again to convince teams that he has the “hunger, health and skill to hang in the NBA”?
He’s been fighting the battle to prove himself to the NBA since the very start and some, including then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, admitted they got that wrong before.
Jeremy Lin ‘in contact’ with Chinese basketball teams: reports
China is the obvious option and one he has mentioned before. Even before he left, he told Beijing Ducks fans that he would be back.
The Ducks would have him back in a heartbeat but there will be plenty of suitors who want him to suit up for them in the CBA.
While in China, Lin averaged 22.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game for the Ducks as he led them to the CBA play-off semi-finals.
Lin proved he is far from finished in his sole CBA season with the Ducks. He has unfinished business after Covid-19 stopped things in their tracks for several months and forced the league into a bubble.
It has been reported that his business partner said Lin was “in contact” with several Chinese Basketball Association teams.
“Although Jeremy is currently in the United States, he is in contact with several CBA teams. He may return to the CBA next season,” former basketballer Li Qun said, as reported by Chinese media.
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Li, who works with the star on the Jeremy Lin-Li Qun Basketball League, also said that Lin will return to China for TV work and an All-Star game this summer.
No doubt there are more commercial opportunities for Lin to explore when he is back in China and they would be extended if he played in the CBA again.
He’s demonstrated a savvy head for business since he signed for the Ducks.
A signature shoe line with Chinese brand X-tep, a deal with Tiger Balm and becoming one of the faces of luxury brand Coach have all come since - and are moves befitting an economics graduate from an Ivy League school.
Lin has been dipping his toe into the world of charity for years and becoming a full-time philanthropist is another option.
Then again, why limit himself when he could do it all?
‘I more than proved I was an NBA player,’ Jeremy Lin tells fans
If he does retire from either the NBA or even basketball entirely, then one thing is for sure, that Lin is no longer the shy and retiring type.
He has found his voice in recent years, and especially during this year when he has spoken out about anti-Asian racism in the US.
He’s said several times that he was not ready during the “Linsanity” period of February 2012, when he became a global superstar almost overnight and was neither willing nor able to be the role model that his community needed.
“I’ve talked a lot about my evolution in terms of when ‘Linsanity’ first happened. I just wanted to be respected as a basketball player. I knew I was doing big things for the Asian community but, at the end of the day, I put my heart and soul into my craft and I wanted to be respected for that,” he told fansite jeremylin.net last month.
That has changed now – as can be seen when he told the next generation that they “got next”.
In the meantime, Lin has still got plenty more to give, whether that’s on or off the court – just apparently not in the NBA.
