Jeremy Lin is now officially out of the NBA after signing up to play for the Chinese Basketball Association. He's more than excited to start the next phase of his career in an entirely new country.
While the former Toronto Raptor and one-time NBA champion would have loved to play for the league this season, he's not closing his doors on an NBA return. However, he had to make a trip home and play in front of his Chinese fans.
He revealed in a South China Morning Post piece that he definitely wanted to play in the CBA before calling time on his career.
“I dreamed of playing in the NBA since I was a child,” said the former Toronto Raptor. “Although there is no NBA contract this year, I had invitations from many other leagues, and though my agent told me the fastest route back to the NBA was to play in Europe, I told myself years ago that I would definitely play in the CBA.”
It's true that NBA teams pay more attention to Europe than China. With the influx of European players coming into the league, it was definitely the fastest route for Lin's return to the league.
However, he got what he wanted and played in front of his Chinese fans. He also revealed that making the decision wasn't hard at all.
He said: “My goal to come here is to win. I just want to win and [Beijing Ducks] share the same goal. The team fight for every player and I have talked about this with Zhai Xiaochuan (Beijing Ducks player), which I think is good.
Lin is best known for his “Linsanity” days with the New York Knicks, but he has always been a quality role player in the league. He has career averages of 11.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks. He did all this despite being derailed by injuries over the years.
If he manages to perform well in China, a ticket back to the league is not out of the books.
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