The Gubble opens: G League's bubble season begins

For the G League Ignite, it was a beginning.

For Jeremy Lin, it may be a new beginning.

The G League season has finally started, opening Wednesday inside a bubble at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and using many of the same buildings and amenities the NBA did when it played there last summer and fall.

And the Ignite — the program that was formed to serve primarily as a one-year development program for elite NBA draft prospects — got the first win in G League bubble history, beating Lin and the Santa Cruz Warriors 109-104. NBA veteran Jarrett Jack led the Ignite with 23 points, and likely 2021 lottery pick Jonathan Kuminga scored 19.

“They’re embracing the process of trying to go from amateurs to professionals, and high-level professionals at that,” Jack said.

He’s setting an example. So is Lin. Wednesday was the ninth anniversary of perhaps the peak of the phenomenon known as Linsanity, a 2½-week run in which Lin was starring for the New York Knicks.

On Feb. 10, 2012, he scored 38 points, outdueling Kobe Bryant, who had 34, and leading the Knicks past the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden.

On Feb. 10, 2021, he had 18 points for Santa Cruz in a gym with no fans — and had no complaints.

“Back then, it was really just a lot of space, a ton of usage, a ton of pick-and-rolls and at that time I could get hot on certain nights but shooting wasn’t as much a part of my game as it is now,” Lin said. “Now, it’s very different. It’s a much more poised game.”

Lin has hopes of getting back to the NBA, though also understands that his presence will show the G League’s younger players what it takes to have a long pro career.

“He continues to be a true professional,” Santa Cruz coach Kris Weems said. “He takes care of...