Jeremy Lin

Player

Birthday August 23, 1988

Birth Sign Virgo

Birthplace Torrance, California, U.S.

Age 35 years old

Nationality United States

Height 6′ 3″

#3209 Most Popular

1940

They are dual nationals of Taiwan and the U.S. Lin's paternal family are Hoklo people from Beidou, Changhua, Taiwan, while his maternal grandmother emigrated to Taiwan in the late 1940s from Pinghu, Zhejiang in mainland China.

Lin's parents are both 5 ft tall.

His maternal grandmother's family was tall, and her father was over 6 ft. Lin has an older brother, Josh, and a younger brother, Joseph.

Gie-Ming taught his sons to play basketball at the local YMCA.

Shirley helped form a National Junior Basketball program in Palo Alto where Lin played.

She worked with coaches to ensure his playing did not affect his academic performance.

She was criticized by her friends for letting Lin play so much basketball, but let him play the game he enjoyed.

1970

His parents, Gie-ming Lin and Shirley Lin (née Xinxin Wu), emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s, first settling in Virginia before moving to Indiana, where they both attended universities to study engineering and computer science.

1988

Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player for the New Taipei Kings of the P. League+ (PLG).

Lin was born in Torrance, California, on August 23, 1988.

He was raised in a Christian family in the Bay Area city of Palo Alto, California.

2005

During his senior year in 2005–06, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset the nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation Division II state title.

He was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, and ended his senior year averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.0 steals.

Lin sent his résumé and a DVD of highlights of his high school basketball career to all of the Ivy League schools; the University of California, Berkeley; and his dream schools, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Pac-10 (now Pac-12) schools wanted him to walk on rather than be actively recruited or offered an athletic scholarship.

Harvard and Brown were the only teams that guaranteed him a spot on their teams, but Ivy League schools do not offer sports scholarships.

University of San Francisco men's basketball coach and retired NBA player Rex Walters said NCAA limits on coaches' recruiting visits had reduced Lin's chances: "Most colleges start recruiting a guy in the first five minutes they see him because he runs really fast, jumps really high, does the quick, easy thing to evaluate".

Harvard assistant coach Bill Holden was initially unimpressed with Lin's on-court abilities and told Lin's high school basketball coach, Peter Diepenbrock, that Lin was a "Division III player".

Later Holden saw Lin playing in a much more competitive game, driving to the basket at every opportunity with the "instincts of a killer", and he became Harvard's top recruit.

Its coaches feared that Stanford—across the street from his high school—would offer Lin a scholarship, but it did not, and Lin chose to attend Harvard.

Golden State Warriors owner and Stanford booster Joe Lacob said Stanford's failure to recruit Lin "was really stupid. The kid was right across the street. [If] you can't recognize that, you've got a problem".

2010

Undrafted out of college, Lin signed with his hometown Golden State Warriors in 2010.

He seldom played in his rookie season and received assignments to the NBA Development League (D-League).

2011

He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2011–12 season, sparking a cultural phenomenon known as "Linsanity".

Lin was the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, and is one of the few Asian Americans to have played in the league.

In 2011, Lin was waived by both the Warriors and the Houston Rockets before joining the New York Knicks early in 2011–12.

At first, Lin played sparingly for the Knicks, and he again spent time in the D-League.

2012

In February 2012, however, he was promoted to the starting lineup and led the team on a seven-game winning streak.

Lin's stellar play during the season helped the Knicks make the 2012 playoffs; it also catapulted him to international fame.

Lin appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time and was named to the Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world.

In July 2012, Lin won the ESPY Award for Breakthrough Athlete of the Year.

Following his Knicks tenure, Lin played for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Toronto Raptors.

While he experienced some success in Houston and Charlotte, he battled injuries in the ensuing seasons.

2019

He is the first Asian American player to win an NBA championship, having done so with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

Lin grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned Northern California Basketball Player of the Year honors as a senior in high school.

After receiving no athletic scholarship offers, he attended Harvard University, where he was a three-time all-conference player in the Ivy League.

In August 2019, he left the NBA and signed with the Beijing Ducks, where he became an All-Star in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Attempting to return to the NBA, Lin played with the Warriors' development team in 2021.

He returned to the CBA and played with the Ducks and later the Guangzhou Loong Lions.

He left the Loong Lions midseason in 2022–23 and joined PLG's Steelers in 2023.