Memories of ‘Linsanity’ came quickly rushing back for the NBA fraternity earlier this week, when it was announced that the Golden State Warriors would be signing guard Jeremy Lin to an Exhibit 10 deal.
However, it seems that Lin won’t be making his way to the Bay Area as anticipated, as he reportedly was not able to get clearance from the Chinese Basketball Association to do so.
It was really a case of unfortunate timing for Lin, rather than one side of the negotiating table being hard to move. Lin needed clearance from the CBA (where he played last season), by 11pm ET (the waiver deadline) on Saturday night. However, it is notoriously difficult to get a FIBA letter of clearance on a weekend.
This turned out to be no exception. The Warriors couldn’t push the deal over to the Sunday (because of the subsequent luxury-tax hit they would’ve suffered), and the clearance was not approved – meaning Lin’s deal was over before it had even begun.
In Lin’s absence, Golden State signed Eli Pemberton, before waiving him straight away, so he can join the Warriors G-League team.
Lin is eyeing an NBA return, after starring for the Beijing Ducks in the CBA, where he averaged more than 22PPG last season.