Behind the Business with Michelle Toh
Behind the Business with Michelle Toh

'Proud of where I'm at': Jeremy Lin on life after the NBA, reinvention and redefining success

September 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

'Proud of where I'm at': Jeremy Lin on life after the NBA, reinvention and redefining success

"I'm somebody who has broken a lot of barriers, made history, but I'm also somebody who struggles with self-doubt every day." That is how Jeremy Lin describes himself more than a decade after Linsanity, the improbable 2012 run that turned an undrafted Harvard graduate sleeping on a teammate's couch into a global phenomenon. Now 37 and a year into retirement after 15 professional seasons across 16 teams, Lin is reckoning with a different kind of challenge: figuring out who he is when the game that defined him is no longer his daily reality.

The hardest transition isn't the one you expect

Lin says the first two months after stepping away from basketball were "incredibly difficult." He had played for 36 years. "I would just get hit with waves of intense sadness, feeling lost." The low point came the day after his former team, the New Taipei Kings, retired his jersey. "The next day was incredibly low. I was emotionally in a very dark and sad place — like, why did I walk away? Was that the right decision?"

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:04) **Introduction and Guest Framing** - Host Michelle Toh introduces Jeremy Lin as an NBA champion, entrepreneur, investor, and influential Asian American athlete, setting up the transition from his basketball career to off-court ventures.
  • 2 (03:03) **Camp Purpose and Impact** - Lin explains why he created the training camp, focusing on changing mindset early and fostering community among minority athletes.
  • 3 (06:59) **Life After Basketball: The Transition** - Lin describes the emotional difficulty of retiring after 36 years of playing basketball, including waves of sadness and feeling lost.
  • 4 (10:39) **Core Takeaway for Athletes** - Lin's single most important message for young athletes is to find joy in the journey.
  • 5 (12:01) **Early Basketball Beginnings** - Lin describes his organic, non-professional start in basketball, playing for hours at the YMCA and local parks without a long-term NBA plan.
  • 6 (15:37) **Struggles with Self-Doubt** - Lin openly discusses his daily struggles with self-doubt and multiple moments where he wanted to quit, including cleaning out his locker and crying after a D-League game.
  • 7 (18:29) **Living Through Linsanity** - Lin reflects on the Linsanity run, noting he doesn't remember it vividly because he was in a "flow state" where instincts and muscle memory took over.

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Show Notes

This week, NBA champion, entrepreneur and investor Jeremy Lin takes us on his journey from underdog to global sports phenomenon.

From going undrafted out of Harvard to finding himself at the center of "Linsanity," Jeremy has had a career unlike almost any other.

Now, a year after retiring, he's building the next chapter of his career and seeking to redefine success beyond basketball.

We get a special peek into Jeremy’s world on and off the court, hear about his ambitions in media, startups and VC, and meet "the one person" whom Jeremy says has helped him and his brand the most: JLIN LLC CEO (and Jeremy's sister-in-law!) Patricia Sun. In this episode, we dive into:

00:00: Introduction

01:28: Walk & talk at Jeremy's basketball training camp for young AAPI athletes

04:56: How would the students describe Coach Jeremy?

05:54: Developing a winning mindset

07:00: Transitioning to life after retirement

09:24: Find joy in the journey: What he's hoping to pass down to the next generation

11:22: Sitting down with Jeremy in-studio

11:56: Playing at the YMCA: The beginning of Jeremy’s basketball journey

13:10: Why basketball felt like an escape

14:05: The moment the NBA dream actually felt real

14:57: Going undrafted and overcoming self-doubt

17:36: What it felt like to live through Linsanity

19:30: Handling pressure and overthinking

19:54: Highlight moments: Scoring 38 points against the LA Lakers, Kobe Bryant

21:13: Winning the NBA championship — and not feeling enough

23:05: Managing self-talk and criticism

24:33: Learning to be proud of where you’re at

28:01: Chopping a long-term goal into "10,000 small goals"

29:30: Ad

32:10: Rebuilding his career after injury

33:50: Going overseas

34:23: Competing with yourself

36:35: Playing basketball in Asia

37:23: Representation in sports: How perceptions of Asian athletes have changed

35:20: Couch-surfing: Crashing with Landry Fields, his brother and sister-in-law

38:49: Introduction to Patricia Sun, the CEO behind Jeremy Lin's brand 40:50: How Patricia became Jeremy’s business partner

42:10: How Jeremy’s family managed the rise of Linsanity

43:11: Building a global brand strategy

43:54: What being "mission-driven" really means

45:08: Ad

47:32: How to evaluate deals and decipher which ones to turn down

48:11: What it's like to work with family

49:52: Entering the VC world: What the team looks for when investing in startups

51:39: Opportunities in Southeast Asia

52:20: Investment strategy and business vision

54:48: Jeremy’s next big career goal

56:26: The long-term vision for JLIN LLC

58:16: Starting a hydration drinks brand in Taiwan and staying true to their values

01:00:00: Audience questi

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