Why Did Jeremy Lin Leave The NBA?

Many people were surprised when Jeremy Lin announced he was leaving the NBA to play in China. But why did he really make the decision to leave? Here are some of the reasons that may have influenced his decision.

Jeremy Lin’s NBA Career

Jeremy Lin was an undrafted player in the NBA who made a name for himself during his time with the New York Knicks. He was later traded to the Houston Rockets, and then the Los Angeles Lakers. He was most recently a member of the Brooklyn Nets. Lin’s career in the NBA was short-lived, but he made a significant impact while he was in the league.

Jeremy Lin’s early years in the NBA

Jeremy Lin was drafted in 2010 by the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the NBA Draft. He didn’t see much playing time his rookie season and was later waived by the Warriors. He was then claimed by the Houston Rockets, but again failed to see significant playing time and was released before the start of the 2011-12 season. Lin then joined the New York Knicks’ D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks. In February 2012, he was called up to the Knicks and played decently well off the bench. He started getting more minutes after Carmelo Anthony was sidelined with an injury, and soon “Linsanity” took over New York City and the NBA world.

Lin became a global phenomenon, as he led the Knicks to a string of victories with his stellar play. He scored a career-high 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, and helped solidify the Knicks as a playoff team. After his initial success with the Knicks, Lin signed a 3-year, $25 million contract with the Houston Rockets. However, Lin’s career took a turn for the worse in Houston. He struggled to find minutes on a deep Rockets team, and was later relegated to a bench role.

In 2014, Lin was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He had another disappointing season in Los Angeles, and his struggles continued into 2015. In July 2015, Jeremy Lin was traded to his hometown team, the Charlotte Hornets. However, Charlotte already had established point guards Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb ahead of him on their depth chart, so he once again failed to see significant playing time. In November 2015, Charlotte decided to waive Jeremy Lin after he appeared in just 9 games for them that season.

Jeremy Lin’s breakout season

In his second season with the Houston Rockets, point guard Jeremy Lin burst onto the scene, averaging 22.5 points and 8.7 assists per game. He was named the Western Conference Player of the Week twice and was selected to play in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. Suddenly, Lin was one of the most popular players in the league.

Lin’s success was short-lived, however. He suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for much of the 2012-13 season, and he struggled to regain his form after returning to action. The following season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he struggled in a reduced role. After just one year with the Lakers, Lin was waived and has since bounced around the league, playing for the Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Toronto Raptors.

So what happened to Jeremy Lin? Why did he go from being one of the most popular players in the league to struggling to find a job?

There are a few factors that likely contributed to Lin’s decline. First, his knee injury was a serious setback that caused him to miss significant time and affected his explosiveness when he returned. Second, as other players have noted, NBA defenses began to figure out how to stop Lin’s pick-and-roll game. Third, Lin himself has admitted that he didn’t work hard enough to improve his jump shot and other aspects of his game during his time with the Rockets.

Ultimately, Jeremy Lin is a victim of his own success. He came out of nowhere to have a breakout season with the Knicks in 2012, but he wasn’t able to build on that success due largely to injuries and opposing teams’ adjustments. While he’s still a solid player, he’s no longer one of the league’s superstars.

Jeremy Lin’s decline in the NBA

In 2012, Jeremy Lin burst onto the scene with the New York Knicks, becoming an overnight sensation and global icon. He was soon signed by the Houston Rockets, where he continued to excel for a few more seasons before his career began to decline. He bounced around the league for a few years before ultimately leaving the NBA in 2019.

So what happened? Why did Jeremy Lin’s once promising career come to an end?

There are a few factors that likely played a role in Lin’s decline. First, he was never able to fully recover from a serious knee injury that he suffered in 2013. This injury limited his explosiveness and speed, two essential skills for a guard in the NBA.

In addition, as he got older, Lin simply lost some of his quickness and athleticism. This is natural for any player, but it hit Lin especially hard because his game was so reliant on those skills.

Finally, the NBA changed around him. The league became increasingly dominated by three-point shooters, and Lin was never much of a shooter himself. This made it harder for him to find playing time and ultimately led to his decline.

Reasons for Leaving the NBA

Jeremy Lin was an unrestricted free agent after his fourth season with the Charlotte Hornets and had several offers on the table, but ultimately decided to leave the NBA and sign with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. The reported salary with the Ducks was $3 million dollars, which is a significant pay cut from the $11.8 million he made last season with the Hornets. While money was most likely a factor in his decision, there are other reasons that may have played a role such as his role on the team, the Hornets’ rebuilding process, and the chance to play in his home country of China.

Lack of playing time

One of the main reasons Jeremy Lin decided to leave the NBA was due to a lack of playing time. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lin said, “I didn’t feel like I had the opportunity to show what I could do on the court.” He also added that he was “tired of being hurt and not being able to play.”

These comments make it clear that a big part of Lin’s decision to leave was due to his unhappiness with his role on various teams. Over the course of his NBA career, Lin has bounced around from team to team and has never really had a consistent role. This has led to frustration for Lin, who is a very talented player.

It’s also worth noting that another factor in Lin’s decision was his contract situation. After his breakout year with the Knicks in 2012, Lin signed a large contract with the Houston Rockets. However, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers after just one season with the Rockets.

This putLin in a difficult position financially, as he was now making much more money than he would have if he had signed a more modest contract. This made it difficult for him to find another NBA team willing to pay him such a high salary. As a result,Lin ended up spending time in the G League and overseas before finally deciding to retire from basketball.

Poor fit with team

The Brooklyn Nets didn’t give Jeremy Lin the keys to the offense and it led to him leaving the NBA, he told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on “The Woj Pod.”

Lin signed a three-year, $36 million deal with the Nets in 2016 but averaged just 20.0 minutes per game in his one season with the team. He was limited to 36 games total due to injuries.

“I was extremely excited when I first got there,” Lin said of joining the Nets. “I thought it was going to be my breakout year, and then things just went south really, really quickly … I didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with Kenny [Atkinson] from the beginning.”

“It became very clear, very early on, that things just were not going to work out,” Lin added. “And so for me it was hard because I put everything into it … And so for me it just became a question of do I continue to fight this fight that clearly I’m not winning?”

Injuries

Injuries
One of the primary reasons that athletes retire from any sport is injuries. A string of injuries can prevent an athlete from being able to play at the level they once could, and ultimately may force them to retire. For example, Jeremy Lin has had a series of knee injuries that caused him to miss significant playing time over the past few seasons. These injuries not only robbed him of his opportunity to play, but also sapped his confidence. In an interview with ESPN, Lin admitted that his injuries had “definitely changed [his] thinking about the game and just how long [he] wanted to play.” As a result, it’s likely that injuries played a role in his decision to leave the NBA.