Jeremy Lin has only played in 12 out of the 44 games of the Brooklyn Nets so far this season. He is still nursing a left hamstring injury and he re-aggravated it during his rehabilitation. Lin is now set to miss an additional three to five weeks due to his injury.
The 28-year-old point guard was just days away from returning for the Nets. However, he suffered a setback during his rehab and the Nets announced that Lin will miss more time because of it. Nets general manager Sean Marks told The News & Observer in an interview that they are not going to rush Lin back.
"There's no need to rush him to back. He's a part of this franchise for the future so let's not do anything that's detrimental to his healthy, first and foremost," Marks said.
"Occasionally, unfortunately, this is what happens in the rehab process/ Unfortunately it happened to him, unfortunately, it happened this way, and yes, we'll definitely be very cautious with him moving forward," he added.
Lin first suffered the injury on November 2, 2016 against the Detroit Pistons. He returned after a month before re-injuring it on December 26, 2016 against his former team, the Charlotte Hornets. He is averaging 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists this season.
The Nets signed Lin to a three-year, $36 million deal this offseason. He was specifically brought in by head coach Kenny Atkinson to run his offense. Lin and Atkinson were together in 2012 during the "Linsanity" run with the New York Knicks.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Lin could be back until after the 2017 All-Star break in mid-February. The Nets were very competitive at the start of the season but Lin's injury has put them in a very bad position.
The absence of Lin is felt by Atkinson and the Nets. Brooklyn is currently the worst team in the NBA with a 9-35 record. It will only get worse since they have no first round picks until the 2018 NBA Draft. The Boston Celtics own the Nets' first round pick this year and it has the possibility to be the first overall selection.
The Nets could make some moves to acquire a first round pick in this year's draft. They have some tradable assets like Brook Lopez and Bojan Bogdanovic. Check out the video below to watch Lin re-injure his hamstring against Hornets.