Former NBA Star Jeremy Lin to Join the Guangzhou Loong Lions

On September 5, Chinese-American athlete Jeremy Lin made a huge announcement on Chinese social media: the basketball star will be joining the Guangzhou Loong Lions (广州龙狮) of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in the upcoming season.

Lin, who turned 34 on August 23, has played for over a dozen professional teams throughout his career. He will be transiting to the Loong Lions from the Beijing Ducks, where he was a top-performing player.

The past few years have been tumultuous for Lin.

After departing from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2019, he signed with the Beijing Ducks. During the offseason in 2020, he returned to the U.S. and attempted an NBA comeback, playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors, the Golden State Warrior’s G-League team, before returning to Beijing in the summer of 2021.

However, his second time around with the Beijing Ducks was marred by a three-month battle with Covid-19 and extensive quarantines.

In the official announcement about his move to the Loong Lions, Lin described catching Covid as “an obstacle [I] never imagined facing, with mental and physical impacts that were difficult to overcome.”

The baller has expressed excitement about moving to a new team, writing online: “[The Loong Lions] have a youthful roster full of talent and potential, and the team is getting better and better each year. I cannot wait to play with all my teammates and coaches.”

Known in China as Lin Shuhao (林书豪), the basketball star has had a storied career. In addition to being the first Chinese American to play in the NBA, Lin was the first Asian American to win an NBA Championship, which he accomplished with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

Born in California in 1988 to parents from Taiwan, he played basketball for Harvard and was signed by the Golden State Warriors in 2010.

But it was as a backup player for the New York Knicks during the 2011-12 NBA season that Lin unexpectedly caused a dramatic turnaround in the team’s fortune — thus giving rise to the ‘Linsanity’ craze.

His fans and old team have expressed support for the change.

“You’ll be an opponent in the game, but a friend outside of it! Thank you, brother, for your contributions to Beijing basketball. Wishing you the best for your future,” reads a post on the Beijing Ducks’ official account on the microblogging platform Weibo.

Stay tuned for October 10, when Lin will hit the court for Guangzhou in the 2022-23 CBA season.

Cover image via Weibo