New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin speaks during a press conference on Saturday. (UPI-Yonhap News)
NEW YORK (AP) ― Jeremy Lin will have left knee surgery and will miss six weeks, possibly ending his amazing breakthrough season.
The New York point guard had an MRI exam this week that revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear.
With the regular season ending April 26, the biggest story in basketball this season is probably done unless the Knicks make a deep playoff run.
He was barely holding on to a place in the NBA back in February. Now, after the back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and popularity around the world, he has to go back to the bench when he wants to play most.
“If this was done very early in the year, obviously ... I don’t know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot,” Lin said Saturday. “But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much, because all the players, we really put our heart and souls into the team and into season, and to not be there when it really matters most is hard.”
The Knicks will continue to turn to Baron Davis in place of Lin, the undrafted Harvard alum who became the starter in February and turned in a series of brilliant performances, kicking off a phenomenon that was called Linsanity.
Lin is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists, but the numbers only tell a small part of the story.
The Knicks were under .500 and looking like a mess when Lin was given a chance to play extended minutes at point guard for then-coach Mike D’Antoni on Feb. 4 against New Jersey.
Lin, the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA, scored 25 points with seven assists in that New York victory, was inserted into the starting lineup two days later against Utah, and took the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that gained world-wide attention.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
