Christian NBA player Jeremy Lin finally has revealed the reason why he signed a three-year, $36-million deal with the Brooklyn Nets even after enjoying a successful year with the Charlotte Hornets as a back-up player.
"I just want to try to be a leader. We've talked a lot about culture and establishing a type of identity and work ethic, and I just kinda want to help," he tells Fox Sports. "It's kind of like a blank slate for the organisation in a lot of ways, bringing in a new [general manager] and a new coach, and I just want to be a part of that."
Lin is thankful that former Houston Rockets player Yao Ming helped paved the way for his basketball career.
"No other player, no other person, I would say, has been more impacted by what Yao has done than me, because I was kind of the one that came right after him," he says. "I would watch his games live – I didn't get a chance to go to very many games live, but when I did, I wanted to go see him just because it was an inspiration to see someone of Asian descent to be able to play on an NBA floor."
Lin adds that he has nothing but huge respect for Yao since "the stuff that he had to go through made it easier for me [to ease in]."
The Christian athlete now hopes to do the same for other Asian-American basketball players and help them make a splash in the NBA.
Earlier, Lin told the Charlotte Observer that he used to view racial discrimination as a burden, but that the older he gets, the more he sees it as an opportunity to repair the "broken" view on Asians and Asian-Americans in America.
"It's not just the Asians. It is racism as a whole, and I feel like me being where I'm at – being the only Asian [in the NBA] – gives me a different experience where I'm able to relate to minorities or people who are in certain situations," he said. "So definitely I want to embrace it; I feel like I have a unique platform and a chance to be able to say stuff, whether it's the Oscars or whatever it might be."
