Jeremy Lin Biography

Jeremy Lin is the Asian-American point guard whose sudden rise in the NBA made him the toast of New York in 2012. Before that moment, said The New York Times, Lin had been “an unheralded prospect, a hometown sensation, a scrutinized ethnic symbol and a basketball curiosity, at once intriguing and underestimated and ultimately discarded.”

Jeremy Lin grew up in California, the son of parents from Taiwan, and played at Palo Alto High School. No college offered him an athletic scholarship, so Lin went to Harvard, where he played basketball for four years and graduated in 2010. Undrafted by the NBA, he was signed as a free agent by the Golden State Warriors in July of 2010 and played sparingly that season, often being sent down to play for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA’s developmental league (known as the “D-League”). In December of 2011 he was waived by Golden State, picked up by the Houston Rockets, and then waived by Houston, too.

The New York Knicks claimed him, and he was buried deep on their bench until injuries to starters put him in the lineup. Lin responded by leading the Knicks to wins in his first seven games, scoring 171 points and dishing out 64 assists in that run, including 38 points scored in a win against superstar Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. His sudden popularity led to a new term among the press and fans: “Linsanity.”

Lin missed the end of the 2011-12 season with a knee injury; before the 2012-13 season, he signed a $25.1 million contract to play for the Houston Rockets. The Rockets traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in July of 2014, with Lin and draft picks going to the Lakers in return for rights to European player Sergei Lishchuk.

Lin played with the Toronto Raptors in 2018-19, and as such was a backup guard for the team that won the NBA Championship that year.