Once haunted by Toronto Raptors championship, Jeremy Lin is now at peace with NBA career
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00:00Jeremy Lin was obviously upset
00:03when he wasn't getting any NBA interest,
00:05so he headed to China to play for the Beijing Ducks.
00:08Our Alex Pruitt got a chance to catch up with Jeremy Lin.
00:12Now, you know, Alex, obviously he, like everyone else,
00:14is dealing with this pandemic right now,
00:16but pre-COVID, you know, what was Linsanity like in China?
00:22As big as it was during those initial weeks
00:24with the Knicks, he said.
00:26You know, on the one hand, Jeremy Lin,
00:28like a lot of former NBA players,
00:29went to China just looking to rediscover his game,
00:32looking to find a home again.
00:34You know, like you said,
00:35he was kind of cast off by the NBA,
00:36not unlike, for instance, Jimmer Fredette last year,
00:39the past couple of years,
00:40when Jimmer Mania was alive again with the Shanghai Sharks.
00:43Jeremy Lin goes over to Beijing,
00:44and all of a sudden, you know,
00:45fans are tracking his every move again.
00:48They're flocking the team bus outside the hotel,
00:50and he described, you know,
00:52his apartment filling up with gifts from fans,
00:54and even when he comes back to the country
00:57to quarantine amid this coronavirus suspension,
01:01an airport employee asked him to sign his hazmat suit.
01:05So that's just kind of an indication
01:06of how, you know, Linsanity might be far from our view
01:10in terms of, you know, NBA eyes,
01:12but it's certainly not forgotten over there in China.
01:14Yeah, it definitely makes sense.
01:16Now, does he still have plans
01:17on trying to get back to the NBA?
01:20I think so.
01:21You know, for a lot of these guys,
01:22a big attraction of playing
01:24in the Chinese Basketball Association
01:26is the short season,
01:26which gives them the opportunity
01:28to take a look at NBA offers.
01:29You know, Jimma Fredette signed with,
01:31I believe, the Suns last year on a 10-day contract
01:34and got an opportunity.
01:35It didn't work out for him,
01:36and perhaps before COVID, the pandemic,
01:39Jeremy Lin was looking at something similar,
01:41but now, as he put it to me,
01:43he doesn't even really know what tomorrow will bring
01:45with regards to the CBA
01:46if they're gonna restart their season again.
01:47So it's kind of hard to tell
01:49where his NBA future will lie as well.
01:52Now, outside of the NBA and the CBA,
01:54he is doing a lot of work when it comes to this virus.
01:58Yeah, you know, he wrote an article
02:00for the Players' Tribune,
02:02pledging up to a million dollars,
02:03I think $500,000 of his own money,
02:05and then matching 500K as well
02:07to support companies that are providing PPE
02:10to hospital workers, to healthcare frontline workers,
02:13and in addition, food banks to people who need it.
02:17You know, on top of that,
02:18as really the basketball world's
02:20foremost Asian-American superstar,
02:23he's taken an outspoken stance against racism,
02:26anti-Asian racism that you've seen crop up
02:29all over the world, not just in the US,
02:31in the wake of this coronavirus
02:32as people target people of Asian descent
02:34just because of the way they look.
02:37That's the latest with Jeremy Lin via our Alex Pruitt.
02:40Alex, appreciate your time as always.
02:43Thank you.