New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin couldn’t take the court for the final five weeks of the regular season or the initial round of the playoffs due to a partially torn meniscus in his left knee, but the guy certainly left his mark on NBA basketball and the world this season, even if his gear is half-price in the NY Knicks web store.

For most of the month of February, Lin was seemingly unstoppable both as a basketball player and as some sort of cultural healer, bringing together people (and punsters) of all stripes, as well as cable TV execs who needed to get a deal done pronto. The guy could do no wrong. Everywhere you turned: Linsanity.

There were more than few people who jumped at the chance of making money off the pun-worthy moniker name, of course. And a few ever filed to get the trademark “Linsanity.” One of them, though, was the guy with the degree in economics from Harvard, Jeremy Lin himself. The Huffington Post reports that Lin is the last man standing in the battle for the “Linsanity” trademark.Continue reading...

The New Jersey Nets have pretty much stunk for a few years now. The last time the team had an actual winning record was way back in 2005-'06.

Since May of 2010, they’ve had a new majority owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the first foreign owner of any NBA team and the recent loser of the Russian presidential race to Vladimir Putin. And next season, they will have a new home and a new look. The team is moving to Brooklyn to a brand-spanking-new arena and the team took two measures to celebrate the change now that their New Jersey days are over.

The Brookyn Nets also unveiled a video, entitled “Hello Brooklyn,” to celebrate the transition to the team's new home and stadium as well as the new logo — which was designed, by the way, by Nets minority owner Jay-Z.Continue reading...

As lawyers try to shut down Linsanity-branded medical marijuana (from the you can't make this stuff up files), Jeremy Lin's brand appears to be thriving under new New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson.

So it should come as no surprise that the world’s largest beverage maker (and #1 best global brand) would like to have a little chunk of the Linsanity action for itself.

No, Coca-Cola isn’t going the Volvo route and signing New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin to an endorsement deal. Instead, the  company is capitalizing on the sudden interest in the team from Asian fans by investing in some Chinese-language ads that will be placed in Madison Square Garden.

The ads placed inside the Garden will be placed on rotating signboards courtside, a prime perch because they will be seen on broadcasts of the game, which have been getting a lot of attention this season from Lin fans in China, the Associated Press notes.Continue reading...

Sure, the New York Knicks are on a six-game losing streak (their second this season), leading to the ouster/resignation today of head coach Mike D'Antoni. Sure, point guard Jeremy Lin hasn’t been topping 20 points as consistently as he did when he came into the starting lineup back in early February and led the team to a seven-game winning streak. Sure, Linsanity isn’t quite as intense in the Big Apple as it once was, where his merchandise is being marked down in Times Square.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there who still love the guy, who you may have heard is the first Taiwanese- or Chinese-American to play in the NBA. Some of those folks are execs at Volvo, which is reportedly considering signing the Harvard grad to an endorsement deal in China, the company’s “fastest-growing market,” according to Bloomberg, and a huge market for Lin. Volvo is hoping to be selling 800,000 vehicles there by 2020.Continue reading...

Some people have suggested that Linsanity is pretty much over as the New York Knicks haven’t won (surprise!) every single game that Jeremy Lin has started as point guard, and have actually lost a few with him taking charge.

But anybody who says that obviously hasn’t been hanging out in Taiwan recently. Focus Taiwan reports that the 23-year-old Harvard grad’s influence is extremely strong there. A local magazine there released poll results Friday that show Lin’s continuing influence.Continue reading...

Less than a month ago, the idea of Nike giving Jeremy Lin his own shoe was completely laughable. Before his breakout game Feb. 4 against the New Jersey Nets, Lin had scored only 32 points in the nine games he had appeared in for the New York Knicks. He hadn’t even stepped onto the court for 13 of the team’s first 22 matchups.

Then, of course, he became the toast of New York and a worldwide phenomenon, rising up from his brother’s couch to seemingly save Gotham and strike a pose for underdogs everywhere (though it’s hard to imagine too many situations where a Harvard grad is considered an underdog). With all that love coming his way, marketers were suddenly calling. And Nike was apparently was early to the phone, especially since they had signed Lin to a deal back in 2010. Now it was time for their payday.

In the wake of last week's early sighting, Nike started to sell “Jeremy Lin-themed shoes” in the New York Knicks' team colors, in time to be worn by Lin last weekend. They can be created by fans online for $130 a pair, based on the basketball sneaks (Nike Zoom Hyperfuse Low) the brand built especially for the rising star. Just don't consider it Nike's official Lin shoe — yet.Continue reading...

It's been a big year for Nike, between the release of the FuelBand and Linsanity (yes, Nike is giving Jeremy Lin his own shoe already, the Nike Hyperfuse 2011 Linsanity PE). The brand continues to impress with a slew of announcements this week, unveiling innovations for basketball and summer sports.Continue reading...

He may Lin some and lose some, but the New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin is such a huge star in China that Adidas, the exclusive maker of NBA jerseys, promises that Lin's #17 Knicks jersey — already the top selling jersey in the NBA's online store — will be ready for sale in China by Wednesday.

“Will he become a superstar? We don’t know. We are absolutely happy with our portfolio,” Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer told Bloomberg about the possibility of signing an endorsement deal with the rising star. “But Jeremy Lin definitely has the potential.”