Jeremy Lin recently opened up about one of the most difficult periods of his life, revealing that his mother had to dip into her retirement savings just so he could afford basic necessities while pursuing his basketball dream.
Speaking on the Above The Rim podcast with Dwight Howard, Lin recalled the struggles he faced early in his career despite being one of the best high school players in California.
“Literally the top player in all of California. I could not get one scholarship offer. I couldn’t even get D3 teams to return my call. And I’m like, literally state champion, California Player of the Year. I couldn’t get the D3 teams to respond. I had sent my tapes out and everything.”
“I think it brought back a lot of the pain from growing up. Because even in high school, I won a state championship. I was California Player of the Year, and I had zero scholarship offers. Same with the draft. Just doing really well and going completely undrafted and things like that.”
Lin’s comments highlight a surprising reality of his basketball journey. Despite leading Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and winning the California Interscholastic Federation Division II state championship, he still failed to attract attention from college recruiters.
He was also named California Player of the Year, an honor that usually guarantees scholarship offers from major college programs. Yet Lin said even lower division schools ignored him. The rejection forced Lin to walk on at Harvard University, where he initially received no athletic scholarship. Even his own coach initially viewed him as a Division III-level player.
Despite that skepticism, Lin continued improving. By his junior season, he earned All-Ivy League Second Team honors. In his senior year, he was named First Team All-Ivy League after averaging 16.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game.
Even with that success, the challenges continued. Lin went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, another setback that reinforced how often he had been overlooked throughout his career. He eventually received a chance to play in the Summer League with the Dallas Mavericks, where his performance impressed scouts. That led to a two-year contract with the Golden State Warriors.
However, Lin barely played because the roster already featured established guards like Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. After being released by Golden State and briefly waived by the Houston Rockets, his NBA dream once again looked uncertain.
Then everything changed.
Lin signed with the New York Knicks as a deep bench player during the 2011–12 season. What followed became one of the most famous stories in modern sports. During a stretch of injuries on the Knicks roster, Lin was suddenly given an opportunity to play. He responded with a series of spectacular performances, including a 38-point game against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The phenomenon became known worldwide as ‘Linsanity.’ What made the moment even more powerful was the long journey that came before it. Lin had gone from being ignored by college programs to becoming one of the most talked-about athletes on the planet.
Later in his career, Lin continued playing in the NBA before eventually winning a championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Despite reaching the league’s highest level, he never forgot the sacrifices that helped him get there.
On the same podcast, Lin revealed that later in his career, he turned down a $7 million overseas offer and instead signed a $30,000 contract in the G League because he wanted another chance in the NBA. Despite performing well, that opportunity never came.
Lin has also used his platform to discuss larger issues around race and representation in basketball. He has spoken about how the sport can bring communities together, emphasizing that Asian and African American players share common experiences in the league.
He has also addressed some controversies from his playing days. Lin called out Nick Young for claiming he cried after a famous Kobe Bryant practice rant, saying the story was not accurate. Lin also revealed that he confronted Bryant about how he was treated during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, which led to the two not speaking for nearly five months.
Through it all, Lin’s journey remains one of the most inspiring stories in basketball. From a player with no scholarships to an undrafted guard whose mother used her 401(k) to help him survive, he eventually became an NBA champion and global icon.
