Jeremy Lin seeking NBA return following CBA stint

After spending the 2019-20 season in the Chinese Basketball Association, veteran point guard Jeremy Lin is leaving the Beijing Ducks and will look to return to the NBA for the ’20-21 campaign (link via ChannelNewsAsia.com).

“This decision has really been the hardest in my life,” Lin said in Mandarin in a Weibo video. “… Every morning I would wake up at 4:00 or 5:00 am, thinking, thinking and thinking all the time. In the end, although (the Ducks) have treated me incredibly well … giving me everything I wanted, in the end, I feel that I still have NBA dreams. I still have time to play (there) and I have to chase this.”

Lin, who made his NBA debut in 2010 with the Warriors, spent time with eight teams in total over the course of nine NBA seasons, enjoying a breakout year with the Knicks in 2011-12 and winning a championship with the Raptors in 2019. He elected to play in China this past season and averaged 22.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 5.6 APG for the Ducks, earning a CBA All-Star nod.

It remains to be seen how much interest the 32-year-old will draw from NBA teams. He was a reliable contributor in 51 games for Atlanta in ’18-19, with 10.7 PPG and 3.5 APG on .466/.333/.845 shooting. However, after being bought out by the Hawks and signing with the Raptors, he recorded just 7.0 PPG and 2.2 APG on .374/.200/.810 shooting and fell out of Toronto’s rotation for the playoffs.

Lin, who is Taiwanese-American, said he cried when he told his family that he would be leaving China in an effort to make an NBA comeback.