Jeremy Shu-How Lin[1] (born August 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of Harvard University, Lin reached a partially guaranteed contract deal in 2010 with his hometown Golden State Warriors. He seldom played in his rookie season and was assigned to the NBA Development League (D-League) three times. He was waived by the Warriors and the Rockets the following preseason before joining the New York Knicks early in the 2011–12 season. He continued to play sparingly and again spent time in the D-League. In February 2012, he unexpectedly led a winning streak by New York while being promoted to the starting lineup, which generated a global following known as "Linsanity." In the summer of 2012, Lin signed a three-year contract with the Rockets.
Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the league. He is also known for his public expression of his Christianity.
During the 2012 offseason, the Knicks encouraged Lin to seek other offers, but he and the press expected that the team would re-sign him given its need for a young guard, his good play, and worldwide popularity; ESPN reported that the Knicks would match any other offer "up to $1 billion".[43] The Rockets offered a $28.8 million contract over four years with the fourth year of that deal being at the team's option, which put the true commitment at $19.5 million.[152] Woodson said the Knicks would match Houston's offer and that Lin would be his starting point guard.[152] The Rockets then offered a revised three-year, $25 million deal which the Knicks did not match; Lin deduced the team's decision when he learned that the Knicks signed Raymond Felton instead.[43] The first two years of his contract paid $5 million and $5.225 million, respectively, followed by $14.8 million in the third year.[153] The higher salary in the final year, known as a "poison pill", was intended to discourage New York from matching the offer.[154] Including luxury tax, the Knicks' cost for Lin in 2014–15 was estimated at $43 million.[155] The Knicks' failure to match the offer nonetheless greatly surprised observers, given the team's history of high payrolls; Lin would only have been the fourth highest-paid Knick.[43]
Coming off his "Linsanity" performance in New York, Houston coach Kevin McHale said the expectations of Lin were undue. McHale said the public believed Lin would "average 28 [points] and 11 [assists]", but he had never played a whole 82-game season before.[156] In October, the Rockets acquired James Harden, who supplanted Lin as the face of the team.[157] The Rockets started the season with a 5–7 record and the youngest roster in the league.[158] Lin was averaging 10 points and 6.3 assists, but was struggling shooting 33.3 percent and 22.9 percent of his 3-pointers. He was handling the ball less than he did with the Knicks, with Harden often handling the ball on pick-and-rolls with Lin on the wing.[159] In the Rockets' next game on November 23, Lin faced the Knicks for the first time since leaving as a free agent. The Knicks entered at 8–2 with the best record in the league, but Houston won at home 131–103 as Lin contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.[158][159] He shot 6-for-12, making half of his shots for the first time in eight games, and breaking a personal five-game drought without a 3-pointer.[160]
Lin continued to struggle, and he began losing playing time to backup Toney Douglas. With Harden sitting out injured on December 10, Lin scored 38 points in a 134–126 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The performance was reminiscent of his play during Linsanity.[161][162] Lin shot 9-for-16 (56.2 percent) on his jump shots in the game; entering the contest, he had shot just 26.1 percent on jumpers, whereas he was 40.2 percent a year earlier.[163] Numbers through the season suggested that Harden and Lin were more productive individually with the other on the bench. "I'll be my harshest critic but I'll go ahead and say it: I'm doing terrible," Lin said before facing the Knicks in his first game back in New York.[164] Houston won 109–96, handing the Knicks their first home loss in 11 games. Lin had 22 points and nine assists. He was cheered in pregame introductions, but was booed after the game began.[
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