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Former NBA player Jeremy Lin trains at the Beijing Ducks gym in October after signing on for the 2019-20 Chinese Basketball Association season. Photo: Simon Song
SportChina

Coronavirus: Jeremy Lin reportedly willing to take CBA wage cut if league does not resume

  • Beijing Ducks star reportedly willing to forgo salary if the coronavirus-paused season does not finish
  • NBA champion returns to the gym after finishing mandatory 14-day quarantine on return to China
Coronavirus pandemic
Jonathan White
Jonathan White
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NBA champion Jeremy Lin has offered to take a pay cut at the Beijing Ducks amid the league’s coronavirus hiatus, according to reports in China.
The Chinese Basketball Association season has been on pause since the Lunar New Year in late January and there is no restart date yet set. It had been thought it would restart this month until the General Administration of Sport extended the ban on all sporting events last week.

According to a report published on internet portal Sina Sports, Lin has offered to forgo all salary owed after the 30-game mark, the number played so far, if the season does not resume.

“Relevant sources” are cited, saying that the 31-year-old is willing to pass up the money owed to him despite being entitled to it. It was reported that Lin was offered more than US$3 million to join the Ducks for the 2019-20 season after leaving the Toronto Raptors, where he won the 2019 NBA Championship.

Jiangsu Dragons CEO Shi Lingjie had said that the CBA’s foreign players are entitled to their salaries, but the issue is a hot topic across global sport, with English Premier League footballers and NBA basketballers among those discussing reduced wages over the coronavirus lockdown.

This year, CBA foreign player contracts are standardised through the Yao Ming-chaired league, with Shi’s comments meaning all overseas players would be eligible for their full pay even if the season is not completed.

Meanwhile, Lin finished his mandatory 14-day quarantine after arriving in Beijing from the US over the weekend. He immediately went to the Beijing Ducks gym for shooting drills before going for a haircut and shave, and also receiving cupping.

In an online chat, Lin also revealed he may have lost weight during quarantine and that he had to fold over the waistband of his shorts at practice.

Lin also wrote of wanting to help on his Instagram account.

 

“I’m sitting here thinkin, reading, gettin on calls, trying to see what I can to be of any help. I'm under way with some things (donations, campaigns, etc) but wanna hear everyone’s thoughts,” he wrote.

“What can I and we do to help more and help better? What are some things you guys have been doin?”

Lin has been giving 3,000 yuan (US$423) for every three-pointer in the CBA this season via his charitable foundation, a figure that has been matched by the Ducks.

He also donated 1 million yuan to virus-hit Hubei province through his charitable foundation at the start of the outbreak.

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