Jeremy Lin’s Next Gen Basketball Camp Hones Asian American Talent
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 08 Aug, 2025

The Taiwanese American who took the world by storm with 2012’s Linsanity, is paying it forward to the next generation of Asian American basketball players.

Every so often, an event happens that we spend the rest of our lives re-living in our heads:

The moon landing. 9/11. Obama’s 2008 election night victory.

And, of course, an event that may supersede all of those, particularly if you’re an Asian American basketball fan:

Linsanity:  The multi-week stretch in 2012 when relatively unknown NBA player Jeremy Lin led the New York Knicks on a seven game win streak and into playoff contention. 

It’s been 13 years since Jeremy Lin, the first Taiwanese American player to compete in the NBA, took the world by storm, averaging 22.5 points and 8 assists and helping the Knicks achieve a 9-3 record leading up to All-Star weekend. 

And it’s been six years since Lin played his last NBA game, during which, as a member of the Toronto Raptors, he became the first Asian American to win an NBA championship.

So what’s he up to now?

Post-NBA

Someone in Lin’s position might generally be doing one of a few things at this stage in their career:

Continuing to play basketball for a smaller league

• Hosting a podcast
• Running a foundation
• Producing films
• Sponsoring a clothing line
• Empowering the next generation of athletes like him. 

Lin, it turns out, is doing literally every single one of those things:

Since 2019, Lin has played for various Chinese and Taiwanese basketball organizations. In June of this year, he led his team, the Taipei Kings, to a championship.  He was named finals MVP.

In 2024 Lin started his podcast “A Convo with…” and with the exception of a conversation with his agent, every guest has been Asian. 

In June Lin signed on as an executive producer for Home Court, a PBS coming-of-age documentary film about a high school basketball phenomenon and daughter of Cambodian immigrants.

Last year he executive produced “Ayo, Check Up,” a short film about basketball and mental health, an issue that he cares deeply about.  Although no word on whether “Clinical Linsanity” classifies as a mental health disorder. 

This past Asian History Month, Lin partnered with clothing company Mitchell and Ness to release a jersey with his name and number on it. 

Since 2011 his non-profit The Jeremy Lin Foundation has existed with a mission to "move and serve youth from overlooked AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) and other communities of color through community empowerment, solidarity, and narrative change.”

And just this past weekend, Lin announced his latest additional endeavor: 

Lin held the first annual JLIN Next Gen Basketball Camp in his home town of Palo Alto, California.  Over the course of three days, 12 of the top AAPI college basketball players received expert training and workouts.

Next Gen Basketball Camp

Per Lin’s Instagram, the camp consisted of “Three days of training, mentorship, and conversations we won’t forget.”

“We” refers to Lin, his coaching staff and training staff, and the following members of the inaugural class:

Ryan Agarwal, a 6ft 6in guard at Stanford

Thomas Batties, a 6ft 7in player for Harvard

Vanessa de Jesus, a Duke student who has played for the Philippines' National team. 

Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American junior at Princeton and the focus of Home Court, the documentary produced by Lin

Myles Che, a Taiwanese American who plays for the University of Las Vegas

Justin Huang, a Vietnamese 6ft 5in incoming freshman at Johns Hopkins 

Malia “Pitbull” Samuels, a player for University of Southern California

Laila Phelia, a point guard at Syracuse who has played for the US Women’s National Basketball Team

Annika Shah, an Indian American who recently graduated from Cal Poly

Sumayah Sungapong, a Filipino American at Arizona

Tania Von Oelhoffen, a recent graduate from the University of Southern California

Weilun Zhao, an incoming freshman at the University of San Francisco

“This camp is a big first step,” Lin told a media outlet.  “We’ve never done something like this. I guess this is somewhat of a transition for me from being a player to being a coach…I will for sure be pouring into the next generation and sharing my thoughts. Hopefully, I can import some wisdom.”

Lin has already done more for the AAPI community than most can hope to achieve in a lifetime. And with the start of this camp, he’s arguably just getting started. 

The Future

At the time of Linsanity in 2012, Jeremy Lin was the only Asian American player in the league. Since then, the NBA has been home to such players as Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green, Kyle Anderson, Johnny Juzang, and Jaylin Williams who, like Lin, just won an NBA championship. 

Next season will feature the debut of Filipino and Black American Dylan Harper, who was the second overall pick of the 2025 draft as well as Chinese native Yang Hansen, who shocked the NBA when he was selected midways through the first round by the Portland Trailblazers. Both players have earned massive praise for their breakout performances during the NBA’s summer league.

In the WNBA, Seattle Valkyrie’s guard Kaitlyn Chen made history earlier this year when she became the first Taiwanese American to join the WNBA. 

While Lin’s arrival into the public spotlight was an unmitigated celebration, it was also a stark reminder of how badly greater representation was needed. 

Following a loss to the Hornets by Lin and the Knick’s, ESPN published an article under the headline “A Chink in the Armor.”  It was deleted 30 minutes later, followed by profuse apologies by the network and an announcement that the editor responsible had been fired. 

ESPN suspended a separate employee for making the same comment during an on-air broadcast that week. 

That same month a Fox Sports Jason Whitlock columnist authored a crude tweet predicated on racist stereotypes about the purported size of Asians’ genitalia.

And before any of this, back when Lin was a star basketball player at Harvard, he was frequently subjected to racist chants from opposing players and fan bases. 

These are the very things that Lin wants to protect future generations of Asian athletes from having to endure.

The Future

In an interview surrounding the launch of the camp, Lin joked that he doesn’t want to know how old these attendees were during Linsanity, though they were almost certainly all well under ten years old at the time. 

He’s also added that he hates seeing players from a new generation getting ragged on by more veteran players and that, rather, “I think we should have a lot of mutual respect and appreciation for each other.”

As evidenced by the awkward —yet extremely endearing — social media videos from the Camps which demonstrate a certain lack of familiarity with Gen Z’s latest TikTok dances, Lin is certainly not shying away from embracing the next generation. 

On his own Instagram Lin posted photos of the group along with the words “What a truly truly special weekend seeing many of the best AAPI hoopers all together…the future is bright, in good hands.”