The next Asian NBA star? (Getty Images)
We could be witnessing the rise of the next Asian NBA star.
Jeremy Lin is the first American player in the NBA to be of Chinese descent and has become the toast of New York as well as the Chinese community around the globe after scoring 76 points and dishing out 25 assists in his last three games for the New York Knicks.
What's truly impressive about the 23-year-old is how he 'flies like a butterfly and stings like a bee' around the court and his ability to create something of out nothing.
The 1.91m point guard made his mark in Ivy League basketball but went undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft after graduating from Harvard University.
The California native, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in the mid-1970s, went on to sign for his hometown Golden State Warriors in July 2010 but was cut-off at the end of last year. He was then snapped up by the Houston Rockets, who waived him off after just two weeks.
The Warriors and Rockets' loss is now the Knicks' gain.
Lin is looking more and more like the Knicks' saviour this season, leading them to three straight victories after defeats in their opening two games.
Check out what the buzz around him is all about:
Lin is now the sixth Chinese to have played in the NBA, following in the footsteps of Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue, Mengke Bateer and Wang Zhizhi.
But what makes him stand out (not literally though) is the fact that he is the only one among the previous Chinese NBA stars to be under the 2-metre mark, with the tallest being Yao Ming at 2.29m.
There are already comparisons between him and Allen Iverson in terms of playing style and not to mention their height disadvantage.
Whether or not he goes on to be a success, Lin has already brought something special and revitalising to the NBA.
When asked how he felt about his meteoric rise to fame in such a short time, he humbly said: "I'm just very thankful to Jesus Christ my lord and saviour for giving me this opportunity.
"I'm just overwhelmed right now and trying to take it all in."
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