Jeremy Lin Admits He Did Not Want To Leave New York In 2012

KEY POINTS

Jeremy Lin wishes his stay with the Knicks had lasted longer
Knicks did not match the Houston Rockets' offer
Lin played for two seasons with the Rockets

Eight years after the “Linsanity” phenomenon, Jeremy Lin admitted he hopes the dream run had lasted longer. A restricted free agent in the summer of 2012, the Asian-American said he did not want to leave New York, revealing how he was willing to take a cheap contract that the Knicks could match.

Recounting his struggles in free agency, the ex-NBA player narrated how he asked the Houston Rockets, through his agent, to “lower” their offer as he attempted to stave off his impending break up with the Knicks.

“I was only offered one contract,” Lin told veteran broadcaster Mike Breen in an interview per the New York Post. “We couldn’t get anything from any other team. And so, I had to go find a contract from somebody.”

“And I remember when Houston gave the offer, I promise you, I had just finished a workout and got into my car and got the phone call from my agent and I said to him, ‘can you tell Houston to lower the offer, this is too much. Can you tell someone to lower the offer’, because I wanted to go back to New York and I wanted New York to match,” he recalled.

Lin still ended up playing for the Rockets as his wish was not granted. At the time, there were speculations about Knicks owner James Dolan not wanting to match Houston’s “rearranged” offer as it could cause him a “luxury-tax hell."

“The time there, with the fans, everything. It was so special. I was like, I need to go back to New York,” Lin continued. “That’s where my heart is. So, I call my agent and said ‘hey, find a way to get out of Houston. Give me a less good of a contract so that New York will match it’ and he said, ‘we can’t, this is Houston’s final offer and we’ve been talking to them for a week, two weeks, three weeks, this is it.’”

Lin played two seasons and a career-high 153 games with the Rockets as he averaged 13.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.3 steals in 30.7 minutes per game while shooting 44.3% percent from the field and 34.8% from deep. He would then transfer to several other teams before seizing his first NBA championship in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. After failing to land a contract last summer, the 31-year-old brought his talents to China where he is currently playing for the CBA's Beijing Ducks.