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Jeremy Lin in action for the Beijing Ducks against the Guangdong Southern Tigers during the 2019-2020 Chinese Basketball Association play-offs. Photo: Xinhua
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Jeremy Lin back on court but set to miss start of Chinese basketball season

  • Former NBA star says 11 weeks away is the longest since he was five years old – but return too late for tip-off this weekend
  • ‘I’ll be missing the beginning portion of my season but hyped to start rebuilding to get ready for the season,’ Lin says
Jeremy Lin
Jonathan White
Jonathan White
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Former NBA star Jeremy Lin has returned to the basketball court after a prolonged absence following quarantine after returning to China but it has come too late to make the start of the Chinese Basketball Association season this weekend
Lin, 33, re-signed for the CBA’s Beijing Ducks in the summer after failing to get an NBA contract last season. Now, after completing his mandatory quarantine on returning to China, the former New York Knicks star has returned to the court.

“I go! I can’t go to the court for eleven weeks. I have never been to the court for so long since I was five years old. Finally back,” he wrote in Chinese on his Weibo account.

Lin, who took the Ducks to the CBA play-offs in the 2019-20 season, also posted on his Instagram account to mark his return to the court.

 

“Sheeeeesh ... ELEVEN weeks since I touched a basketball court. Never been away this long since I started hoopin at age 5. Felt freakin amazinggg to be back,” he wrote.

“Today was all smiles and lots of heavy breathing on the court and weightroom, with a long room ahead. My CBA season starts 10/17 so I’ll be missing the beginning portion of my season but hyped to start rebuilding to get ready for the season.”

Jeremy Lin to play in China again as CBA confirms foreigner rules

The CBA season begins on October 16 with the Ducks playing their first game on Sunday. Chinese teams are already inside the bubble and playing preseason games.

Elsewhere in the CBA, Lin’s fellow 33-year-old, the Chinese former NBA player Yi Jianlian returned to action after 422 days following injury.

The CBA’s all-time leading scorer marked his return for the champion Guangdong Southern Tigers with 14 points in a 62-85 loss to Shanxi Brave Dragons.

Yi Jianlian (centre) of the Guangdong Southern Tigers is helped out of the court after an injury during the final round of the CBA Finals against the Liaoning Flying Leopards in the 2019-2020 Chinese Basketball Association. Photo: Xinhua

Yi, who played for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, ruptured an Achilles tendon in game three of the 2019-20 finals in August 2020 and missed all of the last campaign.

Lin could have perhaps made the new season but his quarantine period on returning to China was extended after he tested positive for Covid-19 following a flight from San Francisco to Shanghai.

He recovered and was released from hospital to complete quarantine in Shanghai before quarantining again on his return to Beijing.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Jeremy Lin must wait to play after ending quarantine stint
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