NBA G League investigating Jeremy Lin claim of being called 'coronavirus' on court, reports say

Tom Gatto

NBA G League investigating Jeremy Lin claim of being called 'coronavirus' on court, reports say image

The NBA G League is investigating Jeremy Lin's claim that he was called "coronavirus" on the court, according to two reports.

A source told Shams Charania of The Athletic on Friday (subscription required) that the league is looking into the matter. The New York Times reported early Saturday (subscription required) that a league spokesman confirmed an investigation is underway.

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Lin is playing for the Warriors' G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, Calif.

His allegation was part of an Instagram post Thursday in which he spoke out against anti-Asian racism and stereotyping. Lin is a California native of Taiwanese descent.

"Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn't protect me from being called 'coronavirus' on the court," he wrote. The global COVID-19 outbreak has been traced to Wuhan, China, beginning in late 2019.

Lin began his post with: "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."

He added that Asian-Americans are tired of "having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we're inherently unattractive."

"We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren't as real," he also wrote.

Lin, 32, began his NBA career with the Warriors in the 2010-11 season after a four-year career at Harvard. He established himself during his "Linsanity" run with the Knicks in 2012. He went on to play for the Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks and Raptors. He was a member of Toronto's 2018-19 NBA championship team.

In 480 career games, Lin has averaged 11.6 points and 4.3 assists as a combo guard.  

"I want better for the next generation of Asian American athletes than to have to work so hard to just be 'deceptively athletic,'" he wrote.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.