Jeremy Lin's Salary to Remain at Peon Levels This Season
By wchung | 02 May, 2025

Knicks starting point guard Jeremy Lin may be the NBA’s newest superstar after his five-game dream run, but he will continue to be paid like a peon through the rest of this season.

He is under a two-year contract that provides for an annual salary of $788,872 for the 2011-2012 season, the league minimum for a player of his experience. Under the rules it doesn’t matter that the 134 points he has scored in the last five games is an NBA record for a new starting guard.

But next season, after his contract expires, he can expect his salary to jump to around $5 million as a restricted free agent. That’s because the league rules allow the Knicks to match any offer he may get from other teams. At the same time, teams are prohibited from offering him more than the average salary of all players in the league which, at the moment, is about $5 million, according to New York Times sports columnist Howard Beck.

Given the exceptional chemistry Lin has obviously achieved with Knicks teammates, he is unlikely to decamp as long as the team match other offers that may come in. However, after next season he is freed from salary restrictions and may be enticed away. If the Knicks remain bound to its huge contracts with stars like Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudamire and Tyson Chandler, it may not be able to match offers from other teams for the 2014-15 season under the NBA salary cap.

After his 38-point performance against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, Jeremy Lin became the top topic of sports media and fans. He clinched his superstar status and prospects for continuing success by engineering a come-from-behind, last seconds 100 to 98 win over Ricky Rubio and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night. Yet because of the recent uncertainty surrounding his prospects with the Knicks, he is still dividing nights between the couches of his brother and teammate Landry Fields until he finds a place of his own.

While his NBA salary remains subject to restrictions, Lin is free to capitalize on his newfound fame with endorsement deals. Given his following in Asia as well as the US, they are likely to become the bulk of his earnings.