Jeremy Lin shares ‘key’ differences between NBA and EASL basketball

At this stage of his career, Jeremy Lin has experienced nearly everything that basketball has to offer.

From humble beginnings in the Bay Area to his insane ‘Linsanity’ run in New York to enduring career-altering injuries to winning a title with the Raptors in 2019, Lin had a lengthy and fruitful NBA career.

Now, Lin is embarking on the next chapter of his pro-basketball career. Lin, whose parents are of Taiwanese descent, is determined to deliver a title to Taiwan.

The 35-year-old is playing with the New Taipei Kings in the East Asia Super League, a fast-growing league that features the best basketball clubs in East Asia. They will face off against Japan’s Chiba Jets in the semifinals, which will also feature teams from Korea and the Philippines.

Lin is no stranger to high-level basketball. After battling the best of the best throughout his time in the NBA, he's now leading the Kings against Asia’s best. However, he lists two key differences between the style of basketball played in the NBA and EASL: spacing and physicality.

“In the NBA, you have defense during the key and a longer three-point line and other stuff… so they promote a lot of spacing, they promote a lot of scoring [and] it's a lot easier getting into the paint," Lin said in an interview with BasketballNews.

The East Asia Super League is sanctioned by FIBA and uses its rules. In this setting, the three-point line is shorter, the court is smaller and there is no defensive three-second rule (which basically allows centers to play deep in the paint and camp under the rim).

Furthermore, Lin adds that the EASL is much more physical than the NBA: “Here, it’s much more physical. You get a lot more contact – you just gotta grind it more out here."

Finally, Lin stressed that the NBA’s star power is just different. Facing all-world talents like Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and LeBron James makes the NBA different from every other league in the world.

“Obviously the NBA, you’re talking about world-class – the best of the best talent-wise," Lin said. "On any given night, you’re seeing just insane talent. But, you know, that’s not to say anything about the players not in the NBA because there are a ton of great players around the world, but you’re seeing [Durant, Curry, LeBron] night in and night out and they’re obviously phenomenal players."