More than a decade after the height of "Linsanity," Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony are finally addressing one of the biggest lingering storylines from their time with the New York Knicks: the long-running belief that Anthony was jealous of Lin's meteoric rise and that he played a role in Lin’s departure from New York.
During a recent episode of 7PM in Brooklyn, a Wave Original hosted by Anthony and Kazeem Famuyide, the former teammates sat down for a candid conversation about the 2011-12 season, the frenzy surrounding Linsanity, and the narratives that followed both players for years. According to Lin, many of the questions that had lingered since his Knicks exit were finally answered face-to-face.
"Basically I asked every last question I had," Lin said. "Did that happen? What happened there? What happened here?" He added that the discussion was "honest" and helped clear up years of uncertainty.
The recently retired guard said he never wanted his career to be remembered as "me versus anybody else," arguing that if fans still felt compelled to choose between him and Anthony, "then I think we failed."
In early 2012, Lin exploded from relative obscurity into an international sensation while Anthony was injured and Amar'e Stoudemire missed time following the death of his brother. As Lin stacked up highlight performances and game-winning moments, talk quickly shifted from his improbable rise to whether the Knicks' established stars could coexist with him.
That debate eventually morphed into something bigger. Rumors circulated that Anthony resented the attention Lin was receiving, particularly after the guard signed a three-year offer sheet with the Houston Rockets during the offseason. When New York declined to match the deal, speculation intensified that Anthony had influenced the decision.
Anthony directly pushed back on that narrative.
"I had to figure my s***," he said, recalling that he was dealing with injuries and the responsibilities of leading the team at the time. "Forget being jealous of what [Jeremy's] doing. I want him to keep going."
Lin also revealed that staying in New York was his preferred outcome. "I got to go back to New York. We got to find any which way," he recalled thinking during free agency.
He said the Knicks never presented an alternative offer that would have kept him in town, despite his desire to remain with the franchise.
The pair also discussed the challenges of blending their playing styles once the Knicks' roster returned to full health. Lin said success would have required "extra work and extra reps," while Anthony acknowledged the team lacked the leadership structure needed to fully bring its stars together.
For fans who spent years debating who was right and who was wrong during the Linsanity era, the biggest takeaway may be the simplest one: After 14 years of rumors, headlines, and secondhand accounts, the feud many people believed existed was largely built by outside noise, not by the two players at the center of it.
