Jeremy Lin struggles as a free agent: ‘The NBA has kind of given up on me’

The days of “Lin-sanity” must seem like an eternity ago for Jeremy Lin.

The onetime NBA sensation is now just another free agent in search of a team, and it’s really getting him down. Lin got emotional while discussing the matter with reporters during an event this weekend in Taiwan.

“In English there’s a saying and it says once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up,” Lin said. “But rock bottom just seems to keep getting more and more rock bottom for me.”

An undrafted point guard out of Harvard in 2010, Lin was waived by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets before making it big with the New York Knicks during February 2012, when he seemingly came from out of nowhere to lead a team that had lost 11 of its previous 13 games to seven straight wins.

But Lin-sanity was short-lived. Lin’s season ended the following month when he opted for knee surgery. He signed a three-year, $25-million deal with the Rockets that offseason but was traded to the Lakers after two disappointing seasons. He has since bounced around to Charlotte, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Toronto.

Lin won an NBA championship ring with the Raptors last season but his playing time was extremely limited. He played in only one game, for all of 51 seconds, during the six-game finals series against the Golden State Warriors.

And now he is apparently getting little interest from NBA teams during free agency, although CSKA Moscow of the VTB United League and Euroleague is reportedly targeting Lin.

“Free agency has been tough because I feel like in some ways the NBA has kind of given up on me,” Lin said.