Jeremy Lin retires after 15-year basketball career

Jeremy Lin announced his retirement from professional basketball on Saturday, posting a video and a lengthy message to his 2.1 million Instagram followers that closed a 15‑year career spanning nine NBA seasons and six years playing overseas. Lin, 37, called the decision "the hardest" he had ever made and thanked fans, family and teammates for supporting him through a career that began with being undrafted out of Harvard in 2010 and culminated in championships and international acclaim.

"As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away," Lin wrote in the post. "Ive spent my 15‑year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision Ive ever made." He added, "It has been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me."

Lin's rise to global fame came during a breakout run with the New York Knicks in February 2012, a stretch nicknamed Linsanity. After being claimed off waivers, he seized a starting opportunity and produced a spell of...