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Jonathan White

NBA champion Jeremy Lin started 2020 on the sidelines for the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association and he ends it looking for an NBA team as he hopes to complete his dream return to the league where he spent nine years.
In between, the “Linsanity” star had a year almost as crazy as that breakout period with the New York Knicks back in 2012.




This included Covid-19, quarantine, the CBA bubble and calling out Donald Trump – but let’s start at the beginning.
Lin was swapped out by the Ducks for fellow foreign player Justin Hamilton and expected to sit out the whole of January. The decision was said to have been pre-agreed as the Ducks could not otherwise fit Lin, Hamilton and Ekpe Udoh into two overseas player roster spots.




















View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Jeremy Lin 林書豪 (@jlin7)



At 31, he got his first All-Star call up, winning the vote for the North team and being second overall to CBA legend Yi Jianlian of the champion Guangdong Southern Tigers.
The game in Chengdu saw Lin drop 41 points to top score, although 18 of his points came in a one-on-one three-point session against the South’s Zhao Rui that followed the first quarter.
Beijing Ducks struggling badly without Jeremy Lin
Lin confirmed on Weibo after the game that all of his threes counted towards his charity campaign, where he donated 3,000 yuan (US$435) for every one he made during the CBA season. The Ducks agreed to match that figure to make each three worth 6,000 yuan.
The Ducks did not leave him in the wings for long though, calling him back midway through his month off after losing to Qingdao. Lin helped the Ducks get their season back on track before the CBA broke up for the Lunar New Year break.
Going into the break the Ducks looked on course to get into the play-offs when the CBA resumed in February.




















View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Jeremy Lin 林書豪 (@jlin7)



Except it did not resume as the Covid-19 pandemic spread around China and the CBA was among the first sports leagues to be called off.
By then Lin’s former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash and Lin was among those to pay tribute.
“RIP Kobe From sharing the same bday to opponents to teammates … respect for everything you did for the game and world. Gone too soon, life’s truly too precious #legend,” he wrote on Instagram.


With the CBA season postponed indefinitely, Lin returned to his native US where he reflected on the loss of Bryant as well as his friend Godfrey Gao and Ducks captain Ji Zhe, who had died in the previous months.
It was at this time that Lin also began calling out coronavirus-related racism that he had encountered in the early days of what was to become a global pandemic.
“I’ve lived in China this past season and now being back on US soil, I’m saddened by the racist comments regarding the virus in China. There are real people suffering and real heroes working around the clock in service to others – please don’t let your fear or ignorance rob you of seeing that,” he wrote on Instagram in February. “This world needs more compassion and empathy.”

‍♂️I wish you would powerfully support the vulnerable people that will suffer due to our mismanagement of this virus, including those that will be affected by the racism you’re empowering https://t.co/QfRHiOFGEm
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) March 17, 2020

It was a theme that Lin would turn to again in the coming months as well as leading the fight against the virus. He pledged US$300,000 to that fight as he urged his fans to contribute, while his charitable foundation in China gave 1 million yuan to the frontline in Wuhan.
Lin then called out US president Donald Trump for referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” on Twitter.
“I wish you would powerfully support the vulnerable people that will suffer due to our mismanagement of this virus, including those that will be affected by the racism you’re empowering,” Lin wrote in a quote tweet.
‘You’ll know when I know,’ says Jeremy Lin of NBA future
That was in March by which time the first reports that the CBA would soon resume had already emerged in Chinese media. Lin was on a plane back to Beijing and into quarantine in the capital after a 40-hour journey.
Lin joked about his 14-day quarantine, posting an Instagram story referring to it as “MTV Cribs”, and showing off his efforts to stay fit. He was soon back in the gym to prep for the restart and showing fans his daily routine in China.
The NBA champion opened up on his Covid-19 experiences in China and the US in an article on the Players Tribune and launched a US$1 million charity campaign.




















View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Jeremy Lin 林書豪 (@jlin7)



Inside the CBA bubble Lin had time on his hands and he used it to look back on Linsanity (“a legit blur”) and the times he shared with Bryant and playing under Michael Jordan at the Charlotte Hornets.
The CBA eventually resumed in June and Lin’s Ducks got back to business. They built up a winning run and by July, with Lin dropping a CBA-best 38 points in a win over Stephon Marbury’s Beijing Royal Fighters, they had secured a first play-offs since 2016.
Dreams of a first title for the Ducks since Marbury was the star man ended with a 2-1 series defeat to the eventual champions, the Guangdong Southern Tigers, but it went down to the buzzer.
‘Big decisions coming,’ says Lin as he admits China is an option
Lin had put it all on the line for the Ducks, ending up in hospital after the season ended, but in doing so he had “rediscovered himself,” he said.
That missed buzzer-beater in the semis was to be his last action in a Ducks uniform as Lin told his Chinese fans in September that he wanted to return to the NBA.
The 32-year-old would tell everyone that he was not chasing “Linsanity” or money as he announced that he had gone from “rock bottom” in the summer of 2019 when he left the NBA to being ready to chase the dream again after a year with the Ducks.

The Warriors understood Lin’s letter of clearance would be a hurdle and pushed to receive it through tonight. Golden State is now signing-and-waiving rookie Elijah Pemberton of Hofstra, sources said. Pemberton will play with Golden State’s affiliate, Santa Cruz. https://t.co/XPrfpcUgdP
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 20, 2020

Lin opened up more on the struggles he had during his NBA career, from being the “most popular person on the planet” during Linsanity, to being too ashamed to leave his own home.
He also revealed that he had suffered from panic attacks in Beijing as he feared being rejected by the CBA as he was by the NBA before his success at the Ducks.
Since then, Lin has spent his time in the gym preparing for an NBA offer during free agency. With the season set to start on December 22 the closest so far has been a failed attempt by his first NBA team to bring the Bay Area boy back home.
Beijing Ducks urging Jeremy Lin to give up on NBA, return to China
Lin had earlier admitted that a return to China was another option on the table and whether it is spent in the NBA or the CBA, we can all hope that next year is not quite as memorable as this one.





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Jeremy Lin in action for the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association. Photo: Xinhua

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Jeremy Lin in action for the Beijing Ducks during the CBA play-offs quarter-final against the Fujian Sturgeons. Photo: Xinhua

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Jeremy Lin in action for the Beijing Ducks against the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the 2019-20 Chinese Basketball Association. Photo: Xinhua

(201212) -- ZHUJI, Dec. 12, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Simone Pianigiani (Front), head coach of Beijing Ducks, gives instructions during the 17th round match between Shanxi Loongs and Beijing Ducks at the 2020-2021 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

(201212) -- ZHUJI, Dec. 12, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Simone Pianigiani (L), head coach of Beijing Ducks, gives instructions during the 17th round match between Shanxi Loongs and Beijing Ducks at the 2020-2021 season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

Sport

China

Basketball


NBA champion found himself while playing for the Beijing Ducks before heading back to the US to chase his dream
A first All-Star game, a global pandemic and the death of Kobe Bryant among the reasons 2020 will be hard to forget



NBA champion found himself while playing for the Beijing Ducks before heading back to the US to chase his dream.


Jeremy Lin’s 2020: Covid-19, Donald Trump and an NBA dream

NBA champion found himself while playing for the Beijing Ducks before heading back to the US to chase his dream A first All-Star game, a global pandemic and the death of Kobe Bryant among the reasons 2020 will be hard to forget

NBA champion found himself while playing for the Beijing Ducks before heading back to the US to chase his dream

A first All-Star game, a global pandemic and the death of Kobe Bryant among the reasons 2020 will be hard to forget