It appears Jeremy Lin’s play this season will earn him a heftier salary this summer.
The 27-year-old point guard will decline his $2.2 million player option to stay with the Charlotte Hornets and instead enter free agency July 1, league sources told Cleveland.com’s Chris Haynes.
Lin saw his production decline in recent years after becoming a breakout star in New York with the Knicks during the 2011-12 season, and signed a two-year contract worth just $4.4 million with Charlotte last July, with a player option for the 2016-17 season.
But the Harvard graduate put together a solid 2015-16 season, averaging 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 26.3 minutes per game for an upstart Hornets team that posted its best regular season record since 2000.
Lin’s latest season should yield him a bigger contract in free agency, and there’s a good chance it won’t come from Charlotte, which likely will be over the salary cap in July and wouldn’t be able to match other offers for the shooting guard.
A reunion in New York likely won’t be in the cards, either, as sources recently told the New York Post’s Marc Berman the Knicks have concerns about Lin’s defense.
Thumbnail photo via Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports Images
