Lin makes million-dollar pledge for coronavirus fight

Beijing Ducks star Jeremy Lin, the first Asian-American to win an NBA title, has pledged up to $1 million to coronavirus relief efforts.

The 31-year-old, whose 2012 heroics for the New York Knicks were dubbed "Linsanity", will donate $500,000 and said he would also match all donations up to an additional $500,000.

Lin, who is in Beijing waiting for the CBA to restart, last month tore into US President Donald Trump for "empowering" racism by calling COVID-19 a Chinese disease.

The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, in December before spreading across the world as a pandemic, with the United States increasingly hard hit.

Lin on Monday returned to the same theme on The Players' Tribune website in a first-person piece titled "The Darkness Has Not Overcome It".

"One simple way to be the light is to support organizations doing crucial work during the crisis," Lin wrote in making his pledge.

"You know, my whole life, I've been treated a certain way because I'm Asian," Lin added, mentioning some of the racial stereotypes he has been subjected to.

"I've even been asked if I can see. I've been told to go back to where I came from.

"During the height of 'Linsanity' I was still the butt of many Asian jokes."

Lin urged people all over the world, irrespective of race or nationality, to pull together.

"No one knows how devastating the impact of this crisis will be, but the projections aren't good," Lin wrote.

"We're going to be recovering from this for a long time.

"But in the process, there will be so, so many opportunities to choose light."

Lin had been averaging 24.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists for the Ducks before the CBA was shut down in January. If the regular-season resumes, the sixth-place Ducks are on course to secure a playoff spot with 16 games remaining.

Agence France-presse