For everyone that follows the NBA during the offseason, waiting for the free agency market to open and seeing whether players will stay or play for another team has always been an intriguing and highly anticipated event. But for some players, free agency isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Take Jeremy Lin for example. Lin, who won an NBA title with the Toronto Raptors last season, is currently without a team.
Two days ago while on a tour of Taiwan, Lin expressed his sorrow over not being picked up any team during the free agency period, saying that he has hit rock bottom. While some would think that winning an NBA championship would ensure your chances of teams showing interest in signing you, that hasn’t been the case. Lin is one of many free agents that hasn’t been signed to any team in the league. Among those free agents, most notably, are Joakim Noah (pronounced Yo-keem), Udonis Haslem, Vince Carter, Andrew Bogut (pronounced Bo-gut), and Kenneth Faried (pronounced Fah-reed), some of whom have won NBA championships in the past, but are now waiting for a phone call from any team that is looking to sign them.
While some still wait to be signed by an NBA team, other players have made their own way into playing overseas, as evidenced by Nikola Mirotić (pronounced Ni-ko-lah Mir-ro-tich), who once played in Europe before joining the NBA. Playing overseas shouldn’t be seen as a nail in the coffin for most free agents. It means that there is an alternative where your basketball career can thrive outside of the NBA. Many players have played overseas before returning back to the NBA, among them being Danny Green and J.R. Smith as examples.
Another alternative would be playing in the BIG3 League, founded by rapper Ice Cube, where former NBA players can still thrive in their basketball careers, long after the NBA. While many believe that Lin may be over-exaggerating over the fact that no team hasn’t signed him as of yet, few hardly know what it’s like when it comes to the business of sports leagues and players being overlooked.
The Heat Check Magazine 