Jeremy Lin said Tuesday that he will leave the Beijing Ducks after a season in China and wants to return to the NBA, where he sparked the 2012 “Linsanity” craze.
The 32-year-old guard, who as a 2019 Toronto Raptors player became the first Asian-American to win an NBA championship, signed for Beijing as an unrestricted free agent last year.
Lin helped Beijing reach the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) championship semi-finals, where they were knocked out by future Guangdong Southern Tigers champions.
“This decision was truly the most difficult of my life,” Lin, who complained about the brutal treatment he received in the CBA, told his seven million followers in a Twitter video like Weibo.
“Every morning I would wake up at 4:00 or 5:00, thinking, thinking and thinking all the time.
“In the end, even though Shougang (the Ducks) treated me incredibly well … giving me everything I wanted, in the end, I feel like I still have NBA dreams.
“I still have time to play (there) and I have to chase this”.
Lin began his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors in 2010 before his heroics with the New York Knicks in 2012 sparked a frenzy that was dubbed “Linsanity”.
He went on to play for several other NBA teams, but has struggled with an injury in recent seasons.
Despite this, he enjoyed a successful stay in China, where CBA was suspended for nearly five months due to the coronavirus.
Lin averaged 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game during the regular season.
“I know a lot of my fans have supported me, no matter if I was injured,” he said in the video.
“Why was this decision so difficult? Yesterday, when I shared it with my family and friends, when I told them that I should leave China, I cried.”
bur-pst / dh
