Jeremy Lin Reportedly Wins NBA Social Breakout Player of the Year Award
Jeremy Lin made a huge impact on the NBA world from the time “Linsanity” started against the New Jersey Nets in early February up until his season ended with a knee injury in late March.
According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the 23-year-old has just won the NBA’s Social Breakout Player of the Year award for the way he captivated fans of the sport during that nearly two-month time period.
"Lin wins Social Breakout Player of Year. Wish he didn't get hurt and won MIP Award.
— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) June 18, 2012"
Lin has amassed over 786,000 followers on Twitter, which is crazy when you see he had fewer than 50,000 on February 5.
Because of his unique path to fame—Lin was a nobody who was about to be cut from the roster before getting a shot due to injury—people everywhere became obsessed with how he was doing.
And he was doing damn well before the injury. The New York Knicks PG averaged 18.2 points, 7.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from deep during the 25 games he started.
Lin also deserves this award because he became one of the first notable Asian-American basketball players to make an impact in the NBA. He bridged cultural gaps and became a hero to an underserved fanbase of Asian-American hoops lovers.
Fans were ecstatic to discuss his performances, and Twitter would explode after he performed miraculous acts, such as the game-winning last-second three against the Toronto Raptors or his 38-point outburst against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Humorous things, such as a picture Landry Fields uploaded of the couch Lin was staying on, ended up going viral and trending during the height of Linsanity as well.
It seemed that Lin was the biggest story of the NBA this season, even though his team only garnered the seventh seed in the playoffs and the point guard was rehabbing during the Knicks' first-round loss to the Miami Heat.
All of this adds up and makes it extremely fitting that Jeremy Lin won the Social Breakout Player of the Year award.
