Everyone remembers where they were when Jeremy Lin decided to become the best basketball player on the planet for three weeks. Honestly, it felt like a fever dream. One day he’s sleeping on Landry Fields’ couch, and the next, he’s hitting a game-winning triple in Toronto and dropping 38 on Kobe Bryant at Madison Square Garden. But once the dust settled and the "Linsanity" headbands were moved to the clearance rack, what did the actual jeremy lin nba stats look like?
It’s easy to dismiss him as a flash in the pan. A lot of people do. They see the 11.6 career scoring average and assume he was just a lucky guy who caught lightning in a bottle. That’s a mistake. When you dig into the logs, you see a player who was legitimately productive for nearly a decade, even while his body was essentially falling apart.
The Two Weeks That Broke the Basketball Internet
To understand the numbers, you have to start with February 2012. Before that, Lin was a "DNP-CD" guy. He had played 29 games for Golden State the year before, averaging a measly 2.6 points. He was basically a human victory cigar.
Then came the New Jersey Nets game on February 4th.
Lin came off the bench and put up 25 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. People thought it was a fluke. Then he started against Utah and dropped 28. Then 23 and 10 against Washington. By the time the Lakers rolled into town on February 10th, the hype was reaching a breaking point.
Kobe Bryant was asked about Lin before the game. He famously acted like he didn't know who the kid was. Lin responded by scoring 38 points. He outscored Kobe. He out-played the entire Lakers backcourt. He was shooting 56.5% from the field that night.
The Linsanity Peak (9-Game Stretch)
During that initial explosion where the Knicks went 8-1, the stats were basically MVP-level:
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- Points per game: 25.0
- Assists per game: 9.2
- Field Goal Percentage: 50.9%
- Minutes played: 38.7
The turnovers were high (nearly 6 per game), sure. But he was high-usage. He was the entire offense. Mike D’Antoni basically handed him the keys to the Ferrari and said, "Don't crash." And for a month, he didn't.
Life After the Garden: The Houston and Charlotte Years
The Knicks didn't match the "poison pill" contract from the Houston Rockets, which is still a sore spot for New York fans. Lin headed to Texas to join James Harden. This is where the jeremy lin nba stats get interesting because his role changed completely.
He wasn't "The Guy" anymore. He was a secondary creator. In his first year with the Rockets (2012-13), he played all 82 games. That’s a feat people forget. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 assists. Those are solid, starting-caliber point guard numbers. He wasn't a superstar, but he was a winner.
Then he went to the Lakers and, honestly, it was a mess. Byron Scott didn't seem to know how to use him. His scoring dipped to 11.2 per game. But he found a second wind in Charlotte.
In the 2015-16 season with the Hornets, Lin became a premier sixth man. He averaged 11.7 points and was huge in the playoffs, helping push Miami to seven games. If you talk to Hornets fans from that era, they’ll tell you he was the engine of that second unit. He finished 7th in Sixth Man of the Year voting. He was efficient, crafty, and finally looked healthy.
The Injury Bug and the Brooklyn Heartbreak
Brooklyn was supposed to be the homecoming. The Nets gave him a 3-year, $36 million deal in 2016 to be their focal point. In the 36 games he actually played that first year, he was great: 14.5 points and 5.1 assists while shooting a career-high 37.2% from deep.
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But then, the 2017 opener happened.
He went up for a layup, landed awkwardly, and immediately knew. Ruptured patellar tendon. I remember watching that live; it was devastating. He missed the entire season. He was never quite the same explosive driver after that. His quickness—the thing that made Linsanity possible—was diminished.
Jeremy Lin Career Regular Season Averages
- Games Played: 480
- Points: 11.6
- Assists: 4.3
- Rebounds: 2.8
- Steals: 1.1
- FT%: 80.9%
The Forgotten Championship Ring
People love to joke about Jeremy Lin’s time with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. He only played 23 regular-season games for them and barely saw the floor in the playoffs (3.4 minutes per game).
But here’s the thing: he earned that spot. He had been playing well in Atlanta (10.7 points on 46% shooting) before getting bought out to join a contender. Even if his jeremy lin nba stats in the Finals don't jump off the page, his veteran presence mattered. He became the first Asian-American to win an NBA title. That counts for something.
Why the Advanced Metrics Matter
If you look at his Player Efficiency Rating (PER), his career average sits at 15.3. For context, 15 is the league average. He was, by definition, a "better than average" NBA player for a decade. That is incredibly hard to do.
His True Shooting Percentage (TS%) was usually around 54-56%, which is respectable for a guard who lived in the paint. He wasn't just a volume shooter; he was a smart player who knew how to draw fouls. In his peak Brooklyn and New York years, he was getting to the line 5 or 6 times a night.
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What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that Lin couldn't play once defenses "figured him out."
That’s not what happened. What happened was a combination of James Harden needing the ball (understandable), a series of brutal hamstring injuries, and that catastrophic knee rupture.
When he was healthy and given the ball, the jeremy lin nba stats stayed consistent. He was a pick-and-roll maestro. According to Synergy Sports data from his prime years, he consistently ranked in the upper percentiles as a pick-and-roll ball handler. He saw the floor in ways most undrafted players simply don't.
The Actionable Takeaway for Fans and Analysts
If you're looking at Lin's career to evaluate talent, don't just look at the 2012 highlights. Look at the 2015-16 Charlotte film or the early Brooklyn games.
- Scouts: Use Lin as a case study for "late bloomers" from non-powerhouse conferences (Harvard).
- Fans: Appreciate the 11.6 career PPG. Most players don't last three years in the league, let alone nine with a ring.
- Stat Nerds: Look at his "Per 36 Minutes" numbers. He averaged 16.3 points and 6.1 assists per 36 for his career. Those are borderline All-Star peripheral numbers.
Jeremy Lin wasn't just a marketing phenomenon or a two-week wonder. He was a legitimate NBA starting point guard who fought through a bias-heavy scouting system and a crumbling body to put up numbers that 99% of basketball players would kill for.
To get a better sense of his impact, you should watch his full 38-point game against the Lakers or his 35-point outburst for Charlotte against Toronto. The stats tell you he was good, but the tape tells you he was special.