Jeremy Lin plays point guard for the New York Knicks. He is the first American basketball player  in NBA to be of Chinese or Taiwanese decent.

The Knicks selected him off waivers on Dec. 27, 2011 to be their back up point guard behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to rookie guard Iman Shumpert.

Lin didn't get much playing time before coming off the bench to tally a 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists in a 99-92 win for New York over the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 4, 2012. Lin's breakout game, coupled with the Knicks lack of production from their point guards, led coach Mike D'Antoni to give him his first NBA start two days later. Lin energized the foundering Knicks, leading the team to six straight wins as a starter. He score 34 points in a home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 10, 2012 and he hit the game-winning 3-point shot in a road victory against the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 14, 2012.

The 6-foot-3 Lin, who grew up in Palo Alto, Calif., failed to earn an athletic scholarship coming out of high school. He went to Harvard University where he played basketball and graduated in 2010.

He went undrafted and signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors in July 2010 after impressing scouts during summer league play in Las Vegas. Lin was cut by the Warriors on Dec. 9 2011 in a move to create salary cap space for Golden State. The Houston Rockets picked Lin up off of waivers two days later. He spent 12 days in a Rockets uniform before being cut on Dec. 24, 2011.