Biography

Of Chinese and Taiwanese descent.

Professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors (2010-11), New York Knicks (2011-12), Houston Rockets (2012-14), Los Angeles Lakers (2014-15), Charlotte Hornets (2015-16), Brooklyn Nets (2016-2018), and Atlanta Hawks (2018-2019), and Toronto Raptors (2019-present).

While his native language is English, he also can speak some Mandarin.

Became a worldwide media sensation in 2012 after he unexpectedly led the New York Knicks in a winning streak.

First American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, and the first graduate of Harvard University to play in the NBA.

[on how he felt when the Knicks didn't renew his contract]I was really, really sad. I was sad when I saw the way everything went down, because nothing happened the way I thought it was going to. I wished that they had offered me a contract just in the beginning, and that didn't even happen, and then, when I found out that they weren't gonna match Houston's offer, I was even more sad, because honestly, I wanted to finish my career in New York.

[Why he wanted to stay with the Knicks]I wanted to play for those fans who rallied behind me in that city, that were behind us and gave me that experience. I felt like I owed it to them.

[on a possible second "Linsanity" era, during his time with The Nets]This isn't the re-creation of "Linsanity", this is, for me, just the next chapter. That's all I'm going to focus on. If people want to call it whatever they want to call it, they can go ahead and do that, but I've kind of set out to see how good I can become and see how good I can make this team.

[If he still encounters racism in the NBA] There's gonna be racism everywhere I go, and some of it's more subtle, some of it is less malicious. I mean, every day there's guys with certain stereotypes or whatever, and it's not just me. But yeah, I still go through it.

[on why his been switching from team to team] I haven't been able to find a situation that I feel like is perfect for me. And because I've been in situations I didn't want to be in, I've created and negotiated in terms of free agency a lot of shorter deals that give me the flexibility to leave if I'm not happy with the way things are going.