Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin has revealed that he hasn’t ruled out a return to the team next season despite the expectation being that he will move on.
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The season ends for the Lakers on Wednesday when they play the Sacramento Kings at the Staples Center, but their current injured stars gave their exit-interviews for the year on Tuesday with Lin and Nick Young headlining the cast.
Lin will be an unrestricted free agent this summer after making nearly $15m this season, and although he averaged 11.2 points and 4.6 assists per game this season, he was unable to always hold down a regular starting spot in coach Byron Scott’s line-up.
While the general consensus is that the former Houston Rockets star will not be back in LA next year, he hasn’t given up hope on the idea as his numbers are still relatively solid and his contract would have to be re-negotiated before the two parties could come to an agreement.
The 26-year-old admitted that he got off to a rough start but believes that he made progress and settled into the team as the season went on, and he will hope that he has shown enough to the organisation to at least warrant an open discussion about a return.
“I know how fast things change in this league. There were times when I thought I would never be a part of this league.” he said in his interview, Lakers.com reports.
“I’m not ruling anything out, and I don’t know where I’m going to be next year.”
Lin added that his relationship and respect with Scott grew as they continued to work with each other as he picked up a lot of useful advice from both his coach and Mitch Kupchak through the year.
He also revealed that Kobe Bryant was a big factor for him this season, and ultimately he will hope that he can play a role in helping the veteran towards a successful last season in the league next year.
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