Jeremy Lin Has Left G League's Ignite for Other Opportunities, Brian Shaw Says

Jeremy Lin's comeback to the NBA took a step forward earlier this week when he joined the G League Ignite team in Walnut Creek, California, for a scrimmage on Tuesday, but Ignite coach Brian Shaw said two days later that the former New York Knicks star has left the team. 

"Jeremy is no longer with us," Shaw told Adam Zagoria of Forbes. "He decided that he wanted to try and explore some other options. He played those couple minutes last game and then decided he was going to go elsewhere." 

Shaw said Lin didn't think he would be able to accomplish his goal of returning to the league with the Ignite squad, given their focus on developing younger talent like Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga, some of the top recruits in the Class of 2020 who elected to skip playing collegiately to join Ignite. 

"It wasn't going to be enough for what he needed to happen for him with the emphasis being on our young guys so I think he wanted to go somewhere where he could have the ball in his hands and really get the minutes and show what he can do in his quest to get back to the NBA," Shaw said, per Zagoria. 

The 32-year-old last played in the NBA in 2019, when he won a championship with the Toronto Raptors, but the peak of his career came in the "Linsanity" era when he revitalized the Knicks, averaging 22.6 points and 8.7 assists per game through a 12-game stretch leading up to the 2011-12 All-Star break. 

His NBA career, which spanned nine seasons and eight teams, never quite reached that peak again. He spent last year with the Beijing Ducks in China, where he led the team to their first postseason berth since 2016 by averaging 22.7 points, 5.6 rebound and 5.6 assists. 

He has been vocal about his desire to return to the NBA this offseason. He announced his decision to try the NBA again back in September when he made a video on the Chinese social media website Weibo. 

"I feel that I still have NBA dreams," he said. "I still have time to play, and I have to chase this."