The development of the NBA’s G League launched an investigation after Jeremy Lin said he was called a “coronavirus” on the court.
Lin, who plays for the Golden State Warriors’ G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, shared in a candid social media post that he experienced an act of racism during a game without saying when or where it happened.
A league spokesman confirmed to the New York Times that an investigation was opened.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr said he would support Lin and denounced any discriminatory act that would make Lin talk about racism against Americans of Asian origin.
The first American player of Chinese or Taiwanese ancestry in the NBA, Lin and his the Warriors are playing at the neutral spot of the G League bubble in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
“Being an Asian American does not mean that we do not live in poverty and racism. Being a 9-year-old NBA veteran does not protect me from being called a ‘coronavirus’ on the court, ”wrote Lin. “Being a man of faith does not mean not fighting for justice, for me and for others. So, here we are again, sharing how we feel. Is anybody listening? “
Kerr was not sure how he would proceed until he gathered more information, but he vowed to support Lin. Lin, 32, played 29 games for the Warriors as a rookie in 2010-11, then went on to the New York Knicks and gained the popularity that spawned the nickname “Linsanity”. Lin was born in the city of Torrance, in southern California, but grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.
“Really powerful. I applaud Jeremy for his words and agree with his feelings about racism against the Asian American community, ”said Kerr before the Golden State hosted Charlotte at the Chase Center. “It is so ridiculous and obviously generated by many people, including our former president, when it comes to coronavirus originating in China. It is simply shocking. I can’t understand any of that, but I can’t understand racism in general.
“We are all just flesh and blood. We are all just people. As (Gregg) Pop (Popovich) once said to me, ‘We are all birth accidents. They were born. We left the way we are. We don’t have a say in that. What we have to say is how we treat people. ‘It is shocking to me that we can treat ourselves so poorly based on skin color or whatever. So I applaud Jeremy for speaking up. “
Lin, who last year pledged up to $ 1 million for coronavirus relief efforts, said there was a generation change in Asian Americans in a post on his Facebook page:
“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans. We are tired of hearing that we do not experience racism, we are tired of hearing that we must keep our heads down and not create problems. We are tired of seeing Asian-American children growing up and being asked where they REALLY come from, of having our eyes ridiculed, of being objectified as exotic or of hearing that we are intrinsically unattractive. We are tired of the Hollywood stereotypes that affect our psyche and limit who we think we can be. We are tired of being invisible, of being confused with our colleagues or that our struggles are not so real.
“I want the best for the elderly, who worked so hard and sacrificed themselves to have a life here. I want the best for my niece and nephew and future children. I want the best for the next generation of Asian American athletes than having to work so hard to just be ‘deceptively athletic’ ”.
Lin followed that post with another one on Saturday, saying he did not plan to publicly reveal the player who used the term.
“I know this is going to disappoint some of you, but I’m not going to name or embarrass anyone,” Lin tweeted. “What’s the use in this situation of someone being demolished? This does not make my community safer or solve any of our long-term problems with racism. “
In addition to his stints at the Warriors and Knicks, Lin also played for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks and in 2019 became the first Asian American to win an NBA championship, doing so with Toronto Raptors.