FORMER NBA star Baron Davis will reconnect with ex-teammate Jeremy Lin in next month’s East Asia Super League Final Four in Cebu City.
Davis, 44, is among the past NBA players invited to grace the final stretch of the league’s first Home and Away season set from March 8-10 at the Hoops Dome in Lapu Lapu City.
NBA greats coming
EASL CEO Henry Kerins said announcements will be made on who the other former star players are coming over as the three-day event approaches.
“Yes, he’s coming. And we have other NBA legends who are coming that you will see at courtside,” said Kerins.
Lin will be coming over as part of the New Taipei Kings that will battle it out with the Chiba Jets in the other half of the Final Four set on March 8. The other semis pairing is an all-Korean encounter between the Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters and the Seoul SK Knights.
“I think Baron Davis has a special connection with Jeremy with the (New York) Knicks. We’re going to have other NBA legends that we’ll be announcing, from the 80s, 90s, 200Os and all the way up.”
Davis and Lin were teammates at New York during the 2011-12 season at the height of the ‘Linsanity’ phenomenon at the Big Apple.
The undrafted Lin was actually signed by the Knicks to a 10-day contract to take over the backcourt spot of Davis, who was then out with an injury.
During the Bootleg Kev podcast, Davis recalled how Lin changed the landscape of the Knicks, who back then also had to bear with the injury of their other superstar in Carmelo Anthony.
“Me and (coach Mike) D’Antonio used to call Jeremy Lin [the] Angels in the outfield, because Jeremy Lin was there to help me get back to playing,” said the point guard out of UCLA.
Lin of course, pounced on the opportunity and showed what exactly he can bring to the table for the Knicks, eventually becoming one of the most captivating stories in NBA history as an undrafted player to global phenomena.
“My locker was next to Jeremy Lin,” recalled Davis at the height of ‘Linsanity’ in New York. “It wasn’t cracking. My locker is here. Jeremy Lin locker is here. And there are 150 media in the locker room.
“Jeremy Lin had the whole team changing in the shower, wherever we could. You couldn’t be in that locker room,” he added. “They had to move him from the locker room. Whatever interview he had, it had to be a press conference.”
This will be the second time in 2024 the 35-year-old Lin is coming over the country to play. Last March 3, Lin and the Taipei Kings beat the Meralco Bolts, 89-77, in a group stage game at the Philsports Arena.
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