Jeremy Lin Shares Unexpected Inspiration for His Signature Shoe

Jeremy Lin made history when he became the first-ever Asian-American NBA player to have his signature basketball shoe called the Xtep JLin One. The shoe was released after more than a decade of playing professional basketball.

Eleven years after he started his prolific basketball career, Jeremy Lin became the first-ever Asian-American to have his signature basketball shoe. The player who is now part of the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA G League is finally in the same league as legendary players like Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving, and Lebron James.

The Inspiration Behind JLin One

The Xtep JLin One follows a colorway inspired by water. The shoe also has the phrase “Faith over Fear” on the back of its tongue. 

This phrase is meaningful since it was Lin’s guiding light when he was anxious about being rejected by the Chinese Basketball Association. 

According to the 32-year-old player, he was inspired by his favorite Bible passage that helped him push through his disappointing rookie days in 2010 when he was still with the Golden State Warriors, before the famous “Linsanity” craze came to be in 2012. 

“That passage came to me, and the point of the passage is when you focus on God, you can do supernatural things like walking on water. That passage stuck with me, and then the next year was Linsanity, and that was a great example to me of, hey, when you’re focused on God, he can do anything, he can do miracles, miracles as big as Linsanity,” he shared.

At one point, Lin said that he believed he was never going to experience the privilege of having his shoe line. The shoe’s slogan “Nothing Stops Me,” is an ode to his mentality about his attitude towards the sport. 

“I guess the ‘Nothing Stops Me’ mentality is about the persistence and the perseverance that maybe you have to wait longer than expected, maybe you have to work a little bit harder, or maybe at times it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen, but if you stick with it, it can,” he said. 

Lin dropped his shoe line only 12 months after signing with Xstep, a Chinese sports clothing company.