Player identified who called Jeremy Lin "coronavirus"

JEREMY LIN

The player who called Jeremy Lin the "coronavirus" has been identified, says the NBA's G League. But the player won't be named.

"Lin has met the player to discuss the escalating racism and violence toward Asian Americans, and the player understands the impact that hearing his comment had on Lin," read the statement from the league.

The league will handle the matter "internally," meaning that the offending player will likely remain unnamed.

In reaction to the recent spate of violence against Asian American elders, Lin posted on his  social media accounts that  "Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans. We are tired of being told that we don't experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble."

"I want better for my elders who worked so hard and sacrificed so much to make a life for themselves here. I want better for my niece and nephew and future kids. I want better for the next generation of Asian American athletes than to have to work so hard to just be 'deceptively athletic.'

In the same post he wrote that during a game, an opposing player called him "coronavirus."

The next day, the Taiwanese American posted that he did not intend to name the players. "To me, it's not about trying to take somebody down or anything like that," Lin told Don Lemon in an interview on CNN. "It's about building awareness, and it's about promoting solidarity."

Lin is in the midst of trying to make an NBA roster by playing in the G League witht he Santa Cruz Warriors, the Golden State Warriors minor league team. Last year no NBA team signed him up and he spent the season playing for the Beijing professional team. He turned down a lucrative contract to resign with Beijing in order to begin his NBA comeback. 

Although Lin has played well with the Santa Cruz team and shown he still has NBA-level skills, no team has offered the 32-year old guard a contract yet.

Lin broke into the NBA with the Golden State Warriors 11 years ago after he graduated from Yale and was undrafted. He is still the only Taiwanese American players in the pro leagues.