Jeremy Lin is heading back to New York, while Australian Matthew Dellavedova and Russian Timofey Mozgov are to leave the champion Cleveland Cavaliers for big-money deals as NBA free agency began on Friday.
Among the top players making rich deals in the first hours of free agency were Dwight Howard with Atlanta, Joakim Noah with the New York Knicks and DeMar DeRozan with Toronto.
Players and teams can agree to terms on deals, but no official contracts can be signed until late next week, leaving only reports that teams cannot confirm.
Photo: AP
Lin agreed to a three-year, US$36 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets, a person with knowledge of the details told reporters.
Lin tweeted earlier that he was headed to Brooklyn, posting a photograph of himself dribbling the ball in a Nets uniform in front of the team’s logo and writing: “The journey continues ... thankful for the next chapter!! #Godisgood.”
The person confirmed the details of the contract on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be signed until Thursday.
Lin’s breakout in the NBA came in New York — with the Knicks — during the 2011-2012 season. The undrafted point guard from Harvard came off the bench to spark the Knicks to a victory over the then-New Jersey Nets and scored at least 20 points nine times in a 10-game span as “Linsanity” briefly became the biggest story in basketball.
The NBA’s first American-born player of Taiwanese decent was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in consecutive weeks and carried New York into the playoffs before a knee injury ended his season.
He is to reunite with new Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, who was a Knicks assistant under Mike D’Antoni and later Mike Woodson in Lin’s lone season in New York.
Lin left after that season for Houston and later played for the Los Angeles Lakers before having a solid season in Charlotte last year as the backup to Kemba Walker. He averaged 11.7 points in helping the Hornets reach the playoffs, where they lost to Miami in seven games in the first round.
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