Jeremy Lin has yet one more thing to celebrate today: After his meteoric rise from benchwarmer to superstar, the 23-year-old now has a Manhattan condo to call his own.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Lin signed a contract to rent a condo on the 38th floor of the W New York Downtown Hotel.
The Journal adds:
"The two-bedroom apartment comes with a 4-foot-high sculpture in the glass-walled living room, original art on the walls, pots and pans in the cabinets and views out to the Statue of Liberty and the memorial pools at the World Trade Center. ...
"The apartment, with interiors furnished by Louise Sunshine, the doyen of New York marketing, had a listed rent of $13,000 a month. But Matthew Moinian, the son of the W's developer Joseph Moinian, said Mr. Lin got a better deal, but declined to disclose the final contract price.
"'We were trying to accommodate him,' he said. 'We want to help him as much as possible with his new life.'"
According to the AP, Lin had been waiting for the Knicks to gurantee his contract before moving on an apartment. "In the meantime," the AP writes, "he stayed with his brother and teammate."
If you're not familiar with the story of Jeremy Lin, you could start with this explanation from All Things Considered. Essentially, Lin came in as an overlooked player who studied economics at Harvard. The Knicks gave the point guard a shot, and he strung together a series of stellar performances, including a game in which he outscored the Lakers' Kobe Bryant 38 to 34.
Stefan Fatsis told Robert Siegel that "Linsanity" only compares to the buzz that happened back in 1981 when Fernando Valenzuela made his debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
All of this, of course, means that Lin will in short order be able to afford that apartment and more. USA Today reports that Nike is already mulling giving the player his own shoes. Forbes estimates that Lin "could translate into $150 million by the 2012-13 season."
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