Jeremy Lin made his mark on February 4, 2012 with 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets.
When he was still a virtual nobody, Lin’s salary for this season worth $788,872 was not guaranteed, but his two year contract so far made him $1,235,799.
In the next game against the Utah Jazz, Lin made his first career start. He had 28 points and eight assists. In a third game against the Washington Wizards, Lin had 23 points and career-high 10 assists. It was his first double-double.
On February 10, 2012, Lin scored a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their victory over the Los Angeles Lakers with a score of 92–85.
He scored 89 points in his first three career starts, the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77. The Associated Press called Lin “the most surprising story in the NBA.”
Bloomberg News wrote that Lin “has already become the most famous Asian American NBA player.” Knicks fans developed nicknames for him along with a new lexicon inspired by his name, Lin. Time.com ran an article titled, “It’s Official: Linsanity Is for Real”.
Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, “The excitement Lin has caused in Madison Square Garden, man, I hadn’t seen that in a long time.”
Come next season, there will be a new price for this new superstar.
One NBA forum suggests that if the Knicks want to re-sign him, they would have to use one of the following:
1. The Non-Bird Exception, where they could pay him up to 125% of his current salary (or roughly $1 million) (Non-Bird Exceptions are typically 120% of a player’s current salary, but since Lin is a restricted free agent, he is eligible for an extra 5% as a qualifying offer)
2. The Bi-Annual exception (which is roughly $2 million) or
3. However much of the mid-level (which is roughly $5 million) they would need to re-sign him.
One thing for certain, he will make much more in endorsements in the days to come! Go Asians!
Recent Comments