Jeremy Lin out for rest of regular NBA season with injury

NEW YORK – New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin needs surgery that will take him out of play for the rest of the season, and potentially the first round of playoff games, too, the New York Times reported.

The Taiwanese-American athlete has a small, chronic meniscal tear in his left knee, the Knicks announced this evening, according to the Times. His recovery from arthroscopic surgery is expected to take at least six weeks.

“It’s a big blow,” Knicks Coach Mike Woodson said, according to the Times.

Lin is the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA, the Associated Press reported. He’s also the first Harvard University graduate to play in the National Basketball Association since Ed Smith in 1953. Lin’s inspired playing this spring increased worldwide interest in basketball and sparked a national discussion about Asians in sports.

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Lin was a benchwarmer until a Feb. 4 game against New Jersey in which he scored 25 points, the AP reported. He then led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak.

"If this was done very early in the year, obviously … I don't know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot," Lin said today, according to the AP. "But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much, because all the players, we really put our heart and souls into the team and into season, and to not be there when it really matters most is hard."

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