Jeremy Lin becomes first Asian-American player with own signature shoe

After 11 years of playing professional basketball, former NBA champion Jeremy Lin finally got his own signature basketball shoe – the Xtep ‘JLin One.’ 

Lin, who is currently part of the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA G League, shared the story behind his historic signature sneaker in an episode of the B/R Kicks Unboxed.

“You know, the signature shoe process takes 18 months typically, but we were able to drop my first signature shoe after 12 months of me signing,” said Lin, who signed in 2019 with Xtep, a shoe company in China.

“After 11 years of professional basketball, I finally have my own signature shoe,” he continued. 

Although the 32-year-old Lin might be the oldest player to have his own signature shoe, he also made history as the first Asian-American player to ever have one. 

During the episode of Unboxed, Lin presented the main colorway of the shoe called “Water,” which represents his favorite Bible passage of Peter walking on water. 

According to Lin, this passage was something he would never forget as it helped him get through his disappointing rookie season with the Golden State Warriors in 2010, up to his unprecedented rise to fame in 2012, during the phenomenal “Linsanity” craze.

“This passage was really, really big for me (during) my rookie year with Golden State when I couldn’t even get off the bench… I just was really, really struggling,” said Lin.

“That passage came to me, and the point of the passage is when you focus on God, you can do supernatural things like walking on water. That passage stuck with me, and then the next year was Linsanity, and that was a great example to me of, hey, when you’re focused on God, he can do anything, he can do miracles, miracles as big as Linsanity,” he added. 

Lin, who at one point felt he was never going to have his own signature shoe, also talked about the JLin One’s slogan, “Nothing Stops Me,” a mentality about his unwavering persistence and perseverance.

“I guess the ‘Nothing Stops Me’ mentality is about the persistence and the perseverance that maybe you have to wait longer than expected, maybe you have to work a little bit harder, or maybe at times it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen, but if you stick with it, it can,” said Lin.

On Wednesday, February 3, Manila time, Lin shared a heartfelt Facebook post, listing his incredible milestones during his 11-year career as a professional basketball player.

“I’ll never know why God chose me to lavish all these blessings on but He’s been too good to me!’ wrote Lin, adding the hashtags “#JLINOnes” and “#historymade” at the bottom of the post.

Lin will make his highly anticipated NBA G League bubble debut on February 10 against the Ignite team led by Fil-Am Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga.

– Rappler.com