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Jeremy Lin has had to prove himself almost every step of his career. After nine seasons in the NBA, things haven’t changed for the veteran point guard.
Lin gave up a seven figure contract to play in China a second season for a chance to break back into the NBA.
He even accepted a contract with the Golden State Warriors G League team to get that one last shot. Lin placed among the top ten scorers in the entire league.
Nine of those ten players have been given contracts in the NBA. Lin is the only one still waiting four weeks after the season ended.
NY Times reporter Mark Stein reported the news.
Lin earned basketball honors and accolades playing for Palo Alto High, just down the road from Stanford University. No division 1 school, not even Stanford, showed any interest.
When Lin surprised his skeptics and earned high praise playing for Harvard, again, no team showed any interest.
Now coming out of the G League, no one seems to have noticed Jeremy Lin. The Warriors chose to call up two younger players from their G League team, Jordan Poole and Nico Manion. Manion earned a starting role on his return from the G League, but has since returned to the bench for the Warriors and gets little playing time. Poole remains a work in progress and has been inconsistent in his play while showing flashes of brilliance.
NBA teams can sign younger players at a much lower salary than what Lin would earn. He last played for the NBA Champions Toronto Raptors, becoming the first Asian American player to earn a championship ring. However, he logged few minutes for the Raptors, especially in the playoffs.
Lin recently revealed to Ellen DeGeneres that his mom subsidized Lin’s dream to play in the NBA coming out of college.
“She didn’t tell me until a few years ago that that money came out of her 401(k),” Lin said, according to the South China Morning Post.
NBA free agent Jeremy Lin has told how his mother helped to fund his NBA dream the first time around, giving him two years to make the league after graduating from Harvard.
Speaking to the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lin explained that his mother Shirley made a huge financial sacrifice to allow him to pursue his dream of NBA stardom.
“The craziest story is just that when I graduated from Harvard, I went to decide to pursue professional basketball,” Lin told DeGeneres. “My mom at that time knew I wasn’t eating until I was full because I was trying to save money for us – because of the tuition and everything.
“She said, ‘I’m going to give you two years to chase your basketball dream. Don’t worry about the money. I’ve got some money’,” the 32-year-old said.
“She didn’t tell me until a few years ago that that money came out of her 401(k),” Lin said, referring to her retirement savings.
“She didn’t tell me at the time, because she knew that maybe I wouldn’t accept it, or she just did what an amazing mother would do. And so that was just kind of a glimpse into the sacrifice that it took from my parents to be able to give me and my brothers a chance.”
The Warrior ended up giving Lin his first NBA contract because its owner, Joe Lacob, saw Lin play in high school. When Lin went searching for a G League contract this past year, it was Lacob’s son who recommended him. The two played together in high school.
The Warriors are currently looking for younger players to round out their aging roster as superstars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are all in their early to mid 30’s.
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