Jeremy Lin, who went through an up-and-down year with the Los Angeles Lakers, needs to take a paycut for his next contract or else it's going to be a very long offseason for the Asian-American standout.
After bagging a career-high $15 million base salary last season (the final year of the three-year, $25 million contract he signed with the Houston Rockets in 2012), Lin's next contract is estimated to take a major dip as a result of a forgetful run with the purple-and-gold.
Although Lin's 2014-15 season numbers (11.1 points & 4.6 assists on 42 percent from the field / 36 percent 3-point line per ESPN Stats) aren't shabby at all for an NBA point guard, unmet expectations along with his failure to live up to the hype surrounding his tenure with the Lakers has somewhat dented his free-agency stock.
However, Lakers legend and current NBA analyst Mychal Thompson told ESPN Radio Los Angeles that he still thinks the 26-year Lin would lobby for an eight figure per year contract, regardless of what NBA analyst and executives values him.
According sources close to situation, Lin believes his strong performance after the All-Star break, when he averaged 14.4 points and 5.2 assists per game in the month of March, only proved that he deserves an $8MM to $10MM per year contract.
Very messy offseason is in the offing if Lin continues to push for an eight figure asking price. While there's no doubt Lin is still one of the better playmakers to hit the free-agency market this summer, his valuation might be too much over the top to the extent that he may scare away interested teams and run out of offers in the end. It's a problematic scenario that can only be averted if he somehow agrees to accept at least $5MM a year deal, which is the fair valuation of Lin, according to most NBA insiders and GMs.