Mark Cuban Makes Perfect Assessment of Jeremy Lin's Popularity

What would Jeremy Lin mania be without Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban getting a word in on the New York Knicks' phenom guard?

Not right, obviously, as we expect the outlandish owner to always have his say on pretty much everything.

With the NBA scrambling to get its latest star into All-Star weekend, it finally found a fit for him in the Rising Stars game.

Being just a second-year player out of Harvard, Lin is an appropriate fit for the game between rookies and sophomores. Whether or not he will start remains to be seen, but it looks as if Linsanity will continue over the break.

The only thing is, he is getting some pretty special treatment for a guy who has only started six games in his career.

That doesn't seem to be a problem, though, with other teams' owners.

According to Marc Stein of ESPN, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban understands why this is happening and believes it is the right move by the NBA.

Cuban says that the Lin situation is a feel-good story and hopes that it will have a bigger impact on the game of basketball and the diversity of people that play the game:

"

Whenever an underdog comes out of nowhere and doesn't fit a particular profile ... Everybody profiles athletes, right? So to have him come in and be counter to everybody's profile or expectations -- right or wrong -- draws attention and that's good. Hopefully, that will encourage other kids and even more diversity with kids who play basketball.

"

Surprisingly, that is actually a nice way of breaking down the situation by a man who is usually surrounded in controversy for things he says.

Cuban actually had Lin before the 2010-11 season. The Crimson star was a part of his team's Summer League squad in Las Vegas.

Clearly, we see how things went with that.

It will certainly remain to be seen how the Lin situation will continue to unravel as the season moves along. However, he has most definitely taken his game to a place where he can't go unrecognized during the league's showcase event.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.