News dropped earlier this week that the Golden State Warriors and Jeremy Lin had plans to reunite. While Lin, who spent last season in China as a member of the Beijing Ducks, was best known in the NBA for his run with the New York Knicks, he actually began his NBA career with the Dubs back in 2010-11, and reports indicated that he was close to joining the team’s G League affiliate.
Lin quickly took to Twitter after these reports began to surface to pour cold water on them, indicating that any report that this was almost a done deal was premature.
Whoa…Everybody chill…this isnt what it looks like. No decisions have been made https://t.co/joyEyVSAAB
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) December 18, 2020
On Saturday, Lin’s tweet came to fruition, as reports indicated that the two sides were not able to get the requisite clearance needed for Lin to come to the NBA from FIBA in time. Shams Charania of The Athletic and Marc Stein of the New York Times explained that because the Warriors could not receive a letter of clearance in time, and as a result, there would have been luxury tax ramifications to signing Lin.
Sources: Letter of Clearance didn’t arrive in time for Jeremy Lin to sign-and-waive with Warriors before tonight’s waiver deadline. https://t.co/m7Ywoq8gEv
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 20, 2020
The Warriors understood Lin’s letter of clearance would be a hurdle and pushed to receive it through tonight. Golden State is now signing-and-waiving rookie Elijah Pemberton of Hofstra, sources said. Pemberton will play with Golden State’s affiliate, Santa Cruz. https://t.co/XPrfpcUgdP
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 20, 2020
This is the deal Golden State hoped to do with Jeremy Lin before 11 PM ET tonight … but the Warriors could not obtain Lin's Letter of Clearance from FIBA over the weekend after Lin played in China last season
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 20, 2020
The Warriors' roster is full to start the season, which precludes them from signing-and-waiving Jeremy Lin to obtain his G League rights as they had hoped without making another roster move and incurring a luxury-tax hit
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 20, 2020
It is unclear if Lin will still look to make a return to the NBA or if he’ll decide to return to China for another season — his contract with the Ducks expired at the conclusion of the year.
