For a few weeks in 2012, Jeremy Lin had enough swagger for all of New York — and for all of the NBA.
While that’s what many fans remember him for, Lin was more than just “Linsanity.” He played in nine NBA seasons before spending time playing in China and, most recently, Taiwan. Now, at 37, Lin announced his retirement from basketball on Instagram.
“As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away,” he wrote. “I’ve spent my 15 year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I’ve lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive everytime I touched a basketball.”
Lin was undrafted out of Harvard but got a chance thanks to Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, who signed him for the Mavs Summer League team. There, he turned heads as a guard with potential, averaging 9.8 points per game on 54.5% shooting in Las Vegas. That led to several offers, but Lin took the one from the Warriors, sending him back to his native Bay Area. He was waived by the Warriors midway through his rookie season, but in the summer of 2012, Lin signed a free agent minimum contract with Mike D’Antoni’s New York Knicks.
In February of the following season, when leading scorer Carmelo Anthony went out, Antoni inserted Lin into the lineup and over the next few weeks Lin became a New York legend, sparking “Linsanity” and breathing an air of excitement into the league it needed. He scored 20+ points in nine of 10 games, most famously outdueling Kobe Bryant on a night Lin dropped 38 and seven assists to Kobe’s 34 points, leading New York to a win.
Lin would go on to play for the Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors (where he won a ring in 2019), averaging 11.6 points a game for his career. More than just an on-court success, he was an inspiration to a generation of players coming up who saw themselves in the overlooked Lin.
After the NBA, Lin played in China and then Taiwan, where he suited up for the Taipei Kings in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s inaugural season. He was named MVP and Finals MVP as he sparked a Kings championship run.