On Feb. 10, 2012, Jeremy Lin had the world in a frenzy. He dropped in an inspiring 38 points against Kobe and the Lakers in what must be the most memorable game at MSG in the past decade. It was the game Jeremy and the whole Linsanity phenomenon became officially legitimized by all his critics.
On Feb. 10, 2020, Jeremy will make his G League return as part of the Santa Cruz Warriors, following an over 1.5 years span in which not a single one of the 30 NBA teams dared to take a chance on the veteran guard.
Eight years later, is this the hand that we expected Jeremy Lin to be dealt? Some may say yes, but those who understand basketball and have followed his journey know that isn’t how it should’ve ended up.
I think it’s safe to say that when Jeremy Lin erupted onto the scene in 2012, the basketball world wasn’t ready for him. This is the case for almost every trailblazer. His impact was monumental and unquantifiable but his NBA journey could and should have been so much greater. I do firmly believe, as I know he does as well, that there is a racial component involved to all of this, where it’s always going to seem like a team is taking a risk by picking him up because he doesn’t fit the mold.
But obviously it’s not just that. His timing and placement, while literally God-sent during Linsanitiy, has also been hell-like at times. With his play style early on in his career, the Rockets with James Harden and the Lakers with Kobe Bryant were terrible landing spots for the ball-dominant point guard. But by the time he got to Brooklyn, he finally found his home. It was the perfect offensive system, playing under the same coach who was there with him step-by-step during Linsanity. And headed into the 2017-18 season, he was perfectly in his prime and one of the faces of the franchise. Then he ruptures his patellar tendon in his first game.
And in the opposite way that he took advantage of the one chance he had on the Knicks, he blundered the multiple opportunities he had to prove himself on the Raptors in 2019. He saw his minutes dwindle to zero and just like that he was out of the league as quickly as he rose to the top.
But that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve to be on an NBA roster the following year. And now he’s essentially starting all over again. It wouldn’t be fair to say that this part of his story wasn’t completely out of his control, but a huge portion of it was.
Rewind the clock to 2010 when he was finding his stride on the Reno Bighorns. Today, he’s back at that same square one.
For overarching reasons, it is so important that his journey continues. While his impact on the Asian and Asian American communities and the ways in which they are perceived in the context of sports has been huge, that individual and likely unreplicable influence can be multiplied by so much. There will never be another Jeremy Lin. What I mean by that is there will never be an Asian American player that can ever have as much societal impact as Jeremy, being the pioneer that he is. And dependent on how the rest of his professional career unfolds, that can have massive effects on society in large scale ways.
So that’s why I’m really hoping his NBA story doesn’t end here in the G League.
Feb. 10 is a new beginning for Jeremy. He’s done the impossible a countless number of times. And he says that he feels like he’s currently the best player that he’s ever been. His perspective on the game and on life have drastically changed.
If there’s one dude on the planet that can do it, it’s Jeremy. The California player of the year with no college scholarships. The undrafted kid out of Harvard. The guy who went from being cut twice to setting NBA records.
The Santa Cruz Warriors are the 12th professional team the journeyman has been affiliated with. The clock is ticking but it’s finally go time once again.
