Brooklyn Nets point guard Jeremy Lin says he rediscovered his love of basketball last season while playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
"I think for a while I lost that joy for the game. For a while, it wasn't fun playing," Lin said during an interview the Nets conducted Thursday on Facebook Live.
"The low point was obviously my rookie year -- going to the D-League, getting cut, [and] those things -- but I had experienced New York and everything, and I was getting down to another really low point. And that was tough for me, especially my season in L.A."
Lin played his only season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014-15, and the team finished with the second-worst record in the Western Conference, going 21-61.
"Going to Charlotte was a breath of fresh air," Lin continued. "I learned so much from Cliff [Hornets coach Steve Clifford]. ... We played the right way, we moved the ball, we played as a team. It was just beautiful. It just brought back everything I thought basketball to be, and I had so much fun with it."
The Hornets wound up finishing 48-34 in 2015-16 and making the playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the East.
Lin signed a three-year, $36 million contract with the Nets this summer. He joined Brooklyn because of the franchise's ability to give him a starting role and an increased leadership position. He also is reunited with Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, who was an assistant with the New York Knicks when Lin captivated the nation during "Linsanity" in 2011-12.
