A day after a league official told ESPN’s Marc J. Spears that the G-League is investigating a statement made by Jeremy Lin that he was called a “coronavirus” during a game, Lin wrote on Twitter that “he doesn’t call and he shall not be ashamed.
“I know this will disappoint some of you, but I do not name or shame anyone.” Lin wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “What’s the use of someone being shot down in this situation? It doesn’t make my community safer or it doesn’t solve any of our long-term problems with racism.”
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Lin, the former NBA goalkeeper now playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League, talked about the racism he believes the Asian American community continues to deal with and gave examples that he said experienced.
“Being a 9-year NBA veteran doesn’t protect me from being called a ‘coronavirus’ on the field,” he wrote.
Lin did not specify when he was told so, and it was unclear whether the incident occurred in the G-League ball in Orlando, Florida, where Lin currently plays as a member of Santa Cruz, a Golden State Warriors affiliate.
Lin became the first American NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese origin when he joined the Warriors in the 2010-11 season. He became best known for a warm-up stretch – one that led to victories with the New York Knicks in the 2011-12 season – which has been described as “Linsanity.” In total, the former Harvard star averaged 11.6 points and 4.3 assists in 480 NBA games from 2010 to 2019.
Earlier, he talked about the racist taunts he received while playing, saying in a 2017 podcast that while some came during their time in the NBA, they were much worse during their four years. at Harvard while competing on the road from 2006 to 2010.
“When I experienced racism in the Ivy League, my assistant coach, Kenny Blakeney, was the one who convinced me,” Lin wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “He shared with me his own experiences as a black man – stories of racism that I could not understand. Stories about being told the word n and throwing things at him from cars. teach me how to stay strong in mine. He was also the first person to tell me that I was an NBA player as a Harvard student. I thought he was crazy. “
Prior to the G League season this season, Lin had played for the Chinese Basketball Association.