Jeremy Lin to test free agency this offseason

[Andrew]

Report: Jeremy Lin declines player option, to become a free agent this summer

Coming off a stellar season with the Charlotte Hornets, Jeremy Lin is hoping to cash in on his improved play with a new contract this summer. According to Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes, Lin has declined his player option with the Hornets and will enter free agency as an unrestricted free agent.

This is rather unsurprising as Lin outplayed the two-year, $4.3M deal he signed with the Hornets last summer. When he signed with Charlotte, Lin was coming off a lackluster season with the Lakers and needed to find a situation where the team believed in him and put him in the right position to succeed. And Lin did just that in Charlotte, becoming an excellent off-the-bench combo guard, averaging 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and three assists in 26.3 minutes a game. Lin will surely earn a large contract this summer; the question though is how much will a team actually be willing to pay him. He is not truly a starting point guard and is not a strong defender. But teams will definitely be interested in Lin, especially since he is a solid, dependable reserve guard.

I expect the Hornets will definitely make a push to re-sign him. He may not be the star player that Linsanity made him out to be, but he seems to have found his place in the league. With the bigger cap and the ballooning salaries, I expect he'll land a handsome deal, whether it's in Charlotte or elsewhere.

[mp3]

Hey if he's willing to give NY another try I'd love to have him back on the knicks more so given that the "Linsainty" hype has gone and we now know what type of player he really is and his price would reflect that also coach Horny likes lead guards in his offence with the pick and roll which we know is Lin's bread and butter.

Lin's agent asked Phil last summer for a Roster spot if you believe the rumours and Jackson wasn't keen hopefully that's changed.

[[Q]]

Iirc Hornets are out of money. Batu will probably command Max pay so Marvin, Lin, and Jefferson will have to split $12 million. They've gotta make a trade to free up some space

[NovU]

Lin's gonna get paid. Timing's good. Quality serviceable PGs are high on demand and this offseason doesn't offer too many PGs.

[mp3]

I'd pay 9-12 mil for him under the cap increase for him, definitely worth that money.

[Andrew]

I expect that's what he'll be able to demand, though with the ballooning salaries and cap, it could be as much as $12-15 million.