Jeremy Lin warned everyone to wait, and now we have an idea why.
Lin and the Warriors reportedly were finalizing a contract agreement Friday, but the team needed a Letter of Clearance from the Chinese Basketball Association and FIBA.
The Athletic's Shams Charania and the New York Times' Marc Stein reported Saturday night that the Warriors were not able to obtain the Letter of Clearance before the 8 p.m. PT deadline.
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According to both Charania and Stein, the Warriors had hoped to sign Lin to an Exhibit 10 contract and then waive him, thus retaining his rights. The plan was to keep him in their system by sending him to G League Santa Cruz.
Instead, the Warriors signed and waived rookie Elijah Pemberton, the team announced Saturday night. Golden State retains the rights to Pemberton and the Hofstra product likely will be assigned to Santa Cruz. Charania and Stein first reported that the Warriors would sign and waive Pemberton.
Lin was hoping to make an NBA comeback after spending the 2019-20 season with the Beijing Ducks in the CBA. He averaged 22.4 points, 5.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals over 43 games.
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Recently, Lin practiced in Walnut Creek, Calif. with the G League Ignite squad and participated in a scrimmage Tuesday, but left the team soon after the session, according to coach Brian Shaw.
"He decided that he wanted to try and explore some other options," Shaw said in response to Forbes' Adam Zagoria. "He played those couple minutes last game Tuesday and then decided he was going to go elsewhere.
"It wasn’t going to be enough for what he needed to happen for him with the emphasis being on our young guys, so I think he wanted to go somewhere where he could have the ball in his hands and really get the minutes and show what he can do in his quest to get back to the NBA."
In November, Lin was spotted playing with Steph Curry and other Warriors players at the University of San Francisco.
It's clear the former Warriors guard wants to play in the NBA again, but for now, that goal is going to have to wait.