Brooklyn Nets point guard Jeremy Lin is a big fan of e-sports, but more specifically a game called Death of the Ancients, more popularly known as Dota 2.
ESPN's Arash Markazi wrote that, even as a professional basketball player, Lin still plays three to four times a week, but especially when he's on the road while travelling for away games, and in his hotel room:
Lin was one of the thousands of fans who packed the KeyArena for five days leading into Sunday's final. He has been playing Dota since he was 16 years old with his brothers Josh and Joseph. He says he still plays three to four times a week, even during the NBA season, especially on the road, when he's in his hotel room.
“They were playing and I started playing just because I wanted to hang out with them,” Lin said of his brothers. “At first it was an awful game, because I was going 0 for 10 every single game with Bounty Hunter. How do you go 0 for 10 with Bounty Hunter? But eventually when I started to learn the game and get better, I started realizing this is like basketball. It's about having each other's back, being loyal, being at that right place at the right time, outsmarting the other team. And there's this huge mental component in this competition that I've always thrived off of. That's why I love playing it.”
E-sports have grown in popularity, especially with growing prize money. The pool for this year's tournament in Seattle is over $20 million dollars. And the crowds regularly sell out so they can watch these players play.
Jeremy also wants to invest into e-sports, which other NBA players have been doing lately. Rick Fox founded his own Echo Fox, and Shaquille O'Neal invested into a company called NRG eSports.
Just recently, Jeremy Lin signed a three-year, $36 million dollar contract in the off-season, so maybe he can use some of his earnings to support his vision.