Jeremy Lin always wanted to remain with the Knicks, but now we know just how bad.
The former Knicks point guard, who became an overnight phenomenon in 2012, revealed in a one-on-one interview with Mike Breen of MSG Networks that he asked his agent to get the Houston Rockets to lower their offer so the Knicks would be able to match following his "Linsanity" season.
The Rockets had offered Lin a contract that included a $15 million "poison pill" on the backend of the deal – something Knicks owner James Dolan was not willing to do.
In the interview, which will air on Friday to cap the network's "Linsanity Week," the 31-year-old explained how he frantically called his agent to get the deal lowered.
"I was only offered one contract. We couldn't get anything from any other team," Lin said. "And so, I had to go find a contract from somebody. And I remember when Houston gave the offer, I promise you, I had just finished a workout and got into my car and got the phone call from my agent and I said to him, 'can you tell Houston to lower the offer, this is too much. Can you tell someone to lower the offer?' Because I wanted to go back to New York and I wanted New York to match."
In just 35 games with the Knicks, Lin became a darling of the city, averaging 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game, which included the stretch of games from Feb. 4 to Feb. 29 in which the Knicks went 10-3 and Lin averaged 22.3 points, nine assists and 2.3 steals per game.
The Knicks were 8-15 at that juncture and Carmelo Anthony was injured during the second game of that run – missing the next seven games – while the Knicks catapulted back to a .500 team at 18-18.
"The time there, with the fans, everything. It was so special," Lin said. "I was like, I need to go back to New York. That's where my heart is. So, I call my agent and said, 'hey, find a way to get out of Houston. Give me a less good of a contract so that New York will match it' and he said, 'we can't, this is Houston's final offer and we've been talking to them for a week, two weeks, three weeks, this is it. We're at the end and this is the only offer that you got, you have to sign it.'
"So I remember signing it, and again, this is no disrespect to Housotn. At that time, I didn't know anything about the organization or the city. I just knew New York. So, … I was like, man, we have to find a way to make this contract, like bring down the money, bring down the years, whatever we need to do, make it easier …. And that's honestly where my heart was at the time and obviously it didn't happen."
