Jeremy Lin
Los Angeles Lakers back-up point guard Jeremy Lin is shutting down all questions regarding his pending free agency during the summer and keeping to himself his plans of staying with the Lakers franchise. The Harvard standout is having an up and down season with the lottery-bound Hollywood-based team which is fueling talks that Lin will opt to sign with a different team after this season.IN PHOTO: Feb 22, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (17) reacts to a 3-point basket in the second half of the game against the Boston Celtics at Staples Center. Lakers won 118-111 in OT. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers back-up point guard Jeremy Lin is shutting down all questions regarding his pending free agency during the summer and keeping to himself his plans of staying with the Lakers franchise. The Harvard standout is having an up and down season with the lottery-bound Hollywood-based team which is fuelling talks that Lin will opt to sign with a different team after this season.

"I'm not going to answer any of those free agency questions until after the season," Lin recently told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. "I'll discuss that later."

The emergence of new starting point guard and rookie sensation Jordan Clarkson has relegated the former New York Knicks player for good. The 22-year-old Clarkson has been steady in the distributor role for the Lakers capped by a recent career-high game of 25 points against the Memphis Grizzlies last Friday. The five-year veteran Lin has been embracing the role of mentor to the University of Tulsa product and is excited over the progress the young point guard has made during the course of the year. Clarkson was picked 46th in the second round of last year’s NBA Draft and is proving to be quite a steal for the ball club after he was promoted to starter status by head coach Byron Scott last January.

As for the man who started the “Linsanity” phenomenon, the bench role is slowly being inculcated in his system. Coach Scott and Lin have found middle ground in allowing Lin to employs more pick and roll plays whenever he comes in, giving back-up big men such as Carlos Boozer and Ed Davis more open looks and opportunities with the drive and react slashes by the 26-year-old Taiwan-descent Lin.

Lin is in the last year of his original back-loaded three-year deal with the Houston Rockets worth $25 million. The Lakers are currently absorbing the final year of his contract worth $15 million and it is expected that the diminutive guard will attract lesser offers in the summer despite the cap expected to go higher when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA, expires in 2016.

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