It was 2012. The setting: New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden.
A phenomenon unlike any other was taking place; a backup Asian-American guard was tearing up the court, carrying a haphazard Knicks team missing its biggest stars to a win. Over the next two weeks Jeremy Lin took the NBA by hold, averaging 22.5 points and 8.7 assists per game while leading the Knicks to a 8-1 record. I watched him in awe as a 5-year-old.
Growing up watching the NBA, I had my favorite players — LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook — but none of them had the same impact on me as Jeremy Lin.
Following his historic run (his last year in the NBA was 2019), a documentary was made on Lin called Linsanity, and millions of people across the world watched it, including me.
It was inspiring watching Lin bringing his Palo Alto High School team to the DI State Championship, dominating the Ivy League as a player at Harvard, going undrafted, spending time in the G-league and finally joining the Knicks — where he started a fire in the hearts of all Asian American Youth basketball fans. He was different from Chinese-born Yao Ming, the ‘7-”6 center who retired in 2011, because he born and grew up in the U.S. He was an inspiration to ABCs (American-born Chinese) because so many of us grew up like he did: spending weekends traveling for club ball while trying to maintain straight A grades.
After his Linsanity stunt with the Knicks he continued to hop around the NBA, playing for the Rockets, Hornets, Lakers, Nets and eventually winning a championship with the Raptors in 2019. Throughout his NBA career Lin averaged 11.6 points and 4.6 assists per game, logging a total of 12,218 minutes. Following his NBA career, Lin headed across the pacific to Taiwan to play with his brothers in the Taiwanese professional league, winning the championship in the 2023 season.
As a relatively quick guard like him, I have tried to model my game after his. I was also inspired by his work ethic, spending hours on end in the gym shooting and crafting my game. On the court, I tried to carry myself like him, sharing the rock unselfishly and lifting up my teammates with defensive intensity.
However, the biggest impact he had on me was his openness about his religious faith. In every interview, every TV appearance, every interaction, Lin always talked about God. Even in the documentary, there was a segment where he takes his team to his Sunday morning church service.
When I was younger, I didn’t like talking about my faith. I grew up in a Christian family, but I thought it was uncool to be Christian. However, after watching Lin be bold about sharing his beliefs, it encouraged me to be bold as well. Nowadays, I’m not afraid to share my faith and give the glory to God, because I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Him.
Linsanity peaked in 2012 but didn’t end then. It became an international movement, kickstarting basketball in the Asian American community and telling Asian youth around the world that they can make it. Everywhere around us, you can see the effects of Linsanity, with a multitude of Asian athletes at the NBA, G-League and collegiate level, such as Yuki Kawamura, who dropped 29 points against the French Olympic team, and Xavian Lee, the leading scorer at Princeton.
Linsanity is the main reason I chose basketball as my sport and stuck with it all the way through high school, even helping the varsity team win a league title this year. I’ve never given up on basketball even though the game hasn’t always been easy or good to me. The power of this one important role model — a humble athlete from nearby Palo Alto — is the reason I see myself continuing to play and follow basketball for the rest of my life.
