"I definitely wouldn't have quit ahead of time" - Jeremy Lin on how he almost decided to give up on the NBA before Linsanity originally appeared on Basketball Network .
The hardest part about reaching a dream is what happens when it starts slipping through your fingers again and again.
Jeremy Lin , before the lead-up to his historic, culture-shifting breakout with the New York Knicks in early 2012, he was in a war of attrition between hope and heartbreak, in which survival often came down to little more than roster spots and who a team thought was expendable.
Months before the Linsanity fever echoed across Madison Square Garden, Lin was jobless on Christmas Eve 2011 and caught in a career collapse that had nothing to do with his talent and everything to do with timing.
On Dec. 24, 2011, while awaiting a positive call from the Houston Rockets , where he had an impressive training camp, he got a call that he would be waived. It was a technical decision as they wanted to clear space to sign center Samuel Dalembert .
But for Lin, it felt like the end.
"It's Christmas — I just got cut and I think my NBA career is over. And two months later was Linsanity," he recalled . "If I didn't have my family there, I wouldn't have made it to Linsanity. I definitely would have quit ahead of time."
The Golden State Warriors had already given up on him once. Despite showing flashes of brilliance and having a massive Bay Area fanbase due to his Palo Alto roots and Harvard background, Lin was the casualty of a new regime. The 2011 NBA lockout had upended the usual rhythm of the league, compressing training camps and transactions into chaos.
With no time to impress incoming head coach Mark Jackson and an $800,000 contract looming, the Warriors waived Lin on Dec. 9 to clear space for a run at DeAndre Jordan . Just three days later, the Rockets claimed Lin off waivers. But Houston's depth chart at point guard with Kyle Lowry , Goran Dragic and Jonny Flynn all with guaranteed contracts meant that Lin was on the outside looking in again. He played only seven minutes across two preseason games. Barely a blip.
At that point, Lin had only appeared in 29 games the previous season, mostly in garbage time. No multi-year contract. No endorsements. Just uncertainty and the ache of being passed over. At 23 years old, he was already cut twice in two weeks. It seemed like he had already gone bust.
The Rockets hadn't wanted to let him go, not really. Lin had impressed in training camp. His instincts, work ethic and floor awareness had caught the attention of the coaching staff. But NBA rosters are bound by hard numbers. Fifteen guaranteed contracts left no room for sentiment.
So Houston's front office made a phone call. They told Lin's agent to hang tight for 24 hours; if they could move someone, Lin might stay. That day became one of the longest and nerve-wracking for Lin as his future was hanging by a transaction thread.
"I'm thinking, 'I had just gotten cut by Golden State. If I get cut again four weeks later, I'm probably done. This is probably the end of my NBA career," Lin said.
The Rockets didn't clear the space, and Lin was waived once more, and that's when New York stepped in. The Knicks were short-handed after an injury to rookie guard Iman Shumpert . Their point guard rotation — Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby — was underperforming and they needed depth. They took a flyer on Lin, a no-risk move for a team barely keeping its season alive. For Lin, it was a final thread of hope.
He joined the team quietly. No fanfare. Assigned to the Erie BayHawks in the D-League, called back days later, benched, ignored. The Knicks were 8–15, spiraling out of control. Lin didn't play meaningful minutes until Feb. 4, when he scored 25 points against the New Jersey Nets and sparked a seven-game win streak that captivated New York and the world.
By mid-February, Lin had become the first player in NBA history to record at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first five starts. Ticket sales soared. TV ratings exploded. The Knicks' merchandise became a top seller. In China and Taiwan, Lin's jersey topped the charts.
Linsanity became a movement.
But it almost never happened. Had the Rockets held onto one extra contract, had the Warriors been slightly more patient or had Lin simply walked away after that second waiver, none of it would have unfolded. There would be no game-winner against the Raptors . No 38-point outburst versus the Los Angeles Lakers . No cultural milestone that gave countless Asian-American kids a reason to believe.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
