Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak intended to keep Jeremy Lin in the purple-and-gold organization for the remainder of his career, according to Bleacher Report writer Kevin Ding.
Ding, who has served as the Lakers beat writer for more than 15 years, stated that Kupchack's plan ever since he acquired Lin from the Houston Rockets last offseason was to keep Lin a Laker for the rest of the point guard's career.
"Kupchak had wanted to bring offseason acquisition Jeremy Lin to the Lakers for the entirety of the point guard's career," according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report via Hoops Rumors.
"Lin, born in Los Angeles and raised in Northern California, has had a rocky start to his stint in L.A. and was recently removed from the starting lineup. The Lakers acquired the fifth-year guard from the Rockets this summer."
The 26-year old Lin assumed the starting point guard spot for the Lakers through the first 20 games before head coach Byron Scott pulled him out of the starting five.
Analysts believed Scott's decision to put journeyman guard Ronnie Price into the starting lineup was stemmed from his desire to improve the team's perimeter defense and add firepower to the second unit.
Lin, who averaged at least 11 points and 5 dimes as a starter, struggled in the first two games coming off the bench as he even considered the situation the toughest he's ever been in his career.
However, the Asian-American floor general might have snapped out of it after he delivered 14 points and 8 assists in a 112-110 win over the San Antonio Spurs. He followed it up with another solid outing in another win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, tallying 8 points and 6 assists in 20 minutes of action.
Lin is currently playing the final year of his contract that pays him roughly $15M this season ($8M against the salary cap). NBA insiders, including Yahoo Sports Adrian Wojnarowski, think Lin is just a one-year rental for the purple-and-gold as they look to upgrade the point guard position by signing the like of Rajon Rondo, Reggie Jackson or Goran Dragic next season.
Then again, Kupchack is also aware of Lin's immense value, at least off the court. With Los Angeles having one of the biggest Asian-American market in the country at 2.5 million viewers, it would be hard for the Lakers GM to let Lin go away.
Perhaps, both parties could work on a reasonable contract using mid-level exception to make Lin stay put with the Lakers. Then again, everything is still uncertain at this point of the season, and movements around the league would certainly dictate Lin's future with his current team.
