Jeremy Lin is returning to New York: the former Charlotte point guard has agreed to a three-year, $36m deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
Lin confirmed the news on Twitter on Friday:
The journey continues...thankful for the next chapter!! #Godisgood pic.twitter.com/1PLutlFbyO
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) July 1, 2016
Lin officially became an unrestricted free agent on Friday, after declining to opt in on a $2.2m player option for the 2016–17 season with the Hornets.
Lin met with the Nets and New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night in Palo Alto, California, sources told ESPN. Lin, who turns 28 in August, averaged 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists over 26.3 minutes per game in his only season with the Hornets.
“I want to find a home … I want to see how good I can become,” Lin recently said at a conversation at the World Economic Forum.
“I’m 27, and an athlete’s prime, or at least in the NBA, your prime is usually 27-30. That’s when you kind of peak physically, mentally and that’s where most players perform their best. So I’m going into my prime and I want to see how great I can be as a player, and that’s my purpose in free agency – so I’ll just exhaust every opportunity to see which one will be the best for me.”
He signed a three-year, $25m contract with the Houston Rockets after the Linsanity craze with the New York Knicks in the 2011-12 season. The largely unknown second-year guard from Harvard scored at least 20 points nine times in a 10-game span and blossomed into one of the league’s biggest stories at that time.
Lin reunites with Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, who was his assistant coach in New York when Linsanity began. Lin credited Atkinson a lot for his development as a player.
The Nets should have around $43m remaining in cap space to spend in free agency after reaching their first player agreement.
