After another couple of months, the pending unrestricted free agent can seek a fresh start elsewhere.
Rest assured, he needs one.
Lin's Los Angeles saga has been a rough one. He's been bad for the Lakers. There's no getting around that—worse, in many ways, than the point guard has been since establishing his NBA name three years ago.
His accuracy from the field (42.6 percent) and turnover rate (19.9 percent) have both trended in the wrong direction. As a result, Lin saw his role disappear behind journeyman Ronnie Price and then-untested rookie Jordan Clarkson.
It's hard to fault the Lakers for downsizing Lin's responsibilities. He hasn't performed well enough to earn minutes.
But you also can't blame Lin for coming up short in a situation that was destined for failure from the start.
Critically, he arrived with expectations. Lin was something more than a backup option at the 1. He was a potential marketing boon, a relatively young talent on a team defined by old ones.
Though Lin's track record suggested he'd never be an on-court star with the Lakers, perhaps the off-court hopes contributed to an overabundance of enthusiasm. Hopes got unrealistically high, and the result has been a narrative that feels like a bigger disappointment than it probably should.
Remember, Lin didn't pick the Lakers as a destination. He was sent there in a cost-cutting move by the Houston Rockets, who wanted to free up cash to take a run at Chris Bosh in July, as noted by NBA.com's Fran Blinebury.
"An unexpected trade landed him in Los Angeles last summer, with a Lakers franchise in upheaval, with a coach who didn't know what to do with him, with a team built to lose," Bleacher Report's Howard Beck ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
