Free agent guard Jeremy Lin opened up this weekend in Taiwan about his NBA career and the struggles he has faced during free agency this summer.
“Every year it gets harder,” the 30-year-old guard said about his NBA future.
“In English there’s a saying and it says once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up,” an emotional Lin said during a motivational speech for Christian outlet GOOD TV. “But rock bottom just seems to keep getting more and more rock bottom for me. So, free agency has been tough. Because I feel like in some ways the NBA’s kind of given up on me.”
Lin — who joined the eventual champion Toronto Raptors midseason — averaged 19.4 minutes over 74 regular season games, but just 3.4 minutes during eight playoff games last season.
“After the season I had to get ready for this Asia trip and it was the last thing I wanted to do,” Lin said. “Because I knew for six weeks I would have to just put on a smile. I would have to talk about a championship that I don’t feel like I really earned. I would have to talk about a [basketball] future I don’t know if I want to have. And honestly it’s just embarrassing. It’s tough.”
Lin has played with eight teams over the last nine seasons and struggled to re-create the “Linsanity” spark he added to the New York Knicks in 2012. Now he’s one of several veteran players still available after a busy month of free agency this summer.
“I’m here to just tell you don’t give up,” Lin said during his speech, which was titled “The Waiting Game”.
“For those of you who are working hard but you don’t see results – don’t give up.”
