By Randall Yip, AsAmNews Executive Editor
Jeremy Lin announced on social media today that he’s signed a new deal with the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.
“The journey continues! Still feel like a kid getting to live out my basketball dreams. #GuangZhouLoonglions #year13,” he declared on Facebook.
This is the second team from China he will play on. He previously played with the Beijing Ducks in the 2019-20 season and again in 2021.
In 2019, he won the NBA championship as a role player with the Toronto Raptors, and became the first Asian American in the NBA to get a championship ring. However, since then, no NBA team has signed him.
He joined the Warriors G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors in 2021 to showcase his skills in a comeback bid. He averaged nearly 20 points a game but failed to get any offers from an NBA team.
Fans even got behind Lin on social media, suggesting a team sign him during the pandemic to replace any one of the many players forced out after testing positive for COVID.
Lin, of course, is best known for his stint with the New York Knicks in 2011- 2012 during which he captivated the nation and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks in a row. During a 26-game period that became known as Linsanity, he averaged just under 19 points a game until a knee injury forced him out the rest of the season.
While he’s had his moments, he’s never been able to regain that magic during stints with Houston, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Toronto.
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Lin talked about what his career, especially the Linsanity days, has meant to the Asian American community.
“This is a story that will be told for years and years and years and that has shattered so many stereotypes and so many boxes that society has tried to put on minorities,” he said.
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