He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2011–12 season, sparking a cultural phenomenon known as "Linsanity".

Born to a Taiwanese American family, Lin grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned honors as a senior in high school.

Following his Knicks tenure, Lin played for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Toronto Raptors.

[21] During his senior year in 2005–06, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset the nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation Division II state title.

[42][43] Following the Summer League, he received offers from the Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and an unnamed Eastern Conference team.

[79] On December 27, after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert, the team claimed Lin off of waivers to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby.

[32] Lin stated that he was "competing for a backup spot", adding that people saw him "as the 12th to 15th guy on the roster";[48] he continued to arrive first at practice and leave last, intensely studied game film, and worked with coaches to improve his footwork and judgment.

[87] However, after New York squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Boston Celtics, coach Mike D'Antoni—in desperation, according to experts—decided to give Lin a chance to play.

[103] On February 11, Lin scored 20 points and had eight assists in a narrow 100–98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, making a go-ahead free throw with 4.9 seconds left in the game.

[96] The basket was so amazing to the Lakers watching on television that veteran player Metta World Peace ran past reporters shouting "Linsanity!

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the rest of the eventual NBA champions focused their entire defense on Lin, an experience he described as "flattering—and terrifying ...

[176][177] On January 23, 2015, Scott promoted rookie Jordan Clarkson to start over Price and chose not to play a healthy Lin in a blowout loss to San Antonio.

[143] Lin was projected to back up Hornets point guard Kemba Walker, and coach Steve Clifford envisioned that the two pick-and-roll players would sometimes play together.

[220] The Ducks scheduled for Lin to sit out the month of January in an arrangement agreed upon before the season with their other overseas players, Ekpe Udoh and Justin Hamilton.

Golden State planned to sign and release him on December 19, 2020, to secure his G League rights for Santa Cruz, but they were unable to obtain a clearance letter from the Ducks, partly because FIBA's offices were closed on the weekends.

[246][243][244] On September 2, 2024, Lin signed a one-year player option contract extension with the New Taipei Kings of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL).

"[271] In response to Mayweather, NBC New York noted that "no one of any skin color in the history of basketball has done in their first four starts what Lin pulled off for the Knicks last week.

[282] Former player and coach Rex Walters, a fellow Asian American, added, "People who don't think stereotypes exist are crazy.

"[283] Lin's experience in the NBA draft was used as an example in the nonfiction psychology book The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis, which details how stereotypes can overwhelmingly influence a person's decision making, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

"[288][289] Early in his stint with the Knicks, a security guard at Madison Square Garden stopped Lin from entering the players' entrance, mistaking him as a trainer.

[291] In a 2015 interview with Pablo S. Torre in ESPN The Magazine, Lin expressed the belief that perceptions of Asians had affected his reputation as a player who was turnover-prone or unable to use both hands, despite statistics that suggested he had improved in both areas.

[292] Reflecting on the subject of race after he returned to the New York City area in 2016 to play for the Brooklyn Nets, Lin stated, "In some ways, Linsanity wouldn't have been Linsanity if I was a different skin color, most likely, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal, and that went to my advantage, too, but if you look prior to that, a lot of the obstacles to even get to that point where I could get to a position of getting on the floor, those were definitely obstacles that were very much stereotypes that I had to fight along the way.

A. Adande of ESPN.com wrote that heightened ethnic sensitivity toward Asian Americans was "another way [Lin's] impact resonates far beyond Madison Square Garden".

[299] In 2014, Lin became a content partner with Whistle Sports Network, adding his YouTube channel with roughly 400,000 subscribers in exchange for an undisclosed equity stake.

[79] Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, "The excitement [Lin] has caused in [Madison Square] Garden, man, I hadn't seen that in a long time".

[318] "I haven't done a computation, but it's fair to say that no player has created the interest and the frenzy in this short period of time, in any sport, that I'm aware of like Jeremy Lin has," said NBA commissioner David Stern.

[136][321] An airline advertised "Linsanely low prices",[332] bids for his rookie card exceeded $21,000 on eBay,[333] and the press circulated rumors—denied by Lin—that he was dating Kim Kardashian.

[334] Foreign Policy speculated on his potential impact on Sino-American relations,[335] and Jack and Suzy Welch wrote that Lin's rise was a lesson to business leaders to not let bureaucracy stifle unproven talent.

"[354][226] In April 2020, Lin donated $500,000 to the nonprofits Direct Relief and Feeding America to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic;[355] he also wrote an article for The Players' Tribune in which he pledged to match donations up to an additional $500,000 and encouraged unity, writing: "Again, at a time like this that requires everyone uniting to survive, COVID-19 shouldn't be about East vs. West, politics, race or anything other than helping as many people as we can survive.

[368] After joining the Knicks in 2012, Lin slept on a couch in his brother's one-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.