Report: Knicks Delayed Jeremy Lin Injury Announcement to Sell Playoff Tickets

The New York Knicks announced that Jeremy Lin’s remarkable season had come to an end on Saturday, but they reportedly knew he wouldn’t suit up for another game this season well before that. According to a report in the NY Daily News, the Knicks held off the news until they made sure they had milked a few more bucks out of the Linsanity phenomenon: “That was a crucial day inside the club’s executive offices at Two Penn Plaza because March 28 represented the deadline for season-ticket holders to purchase all four rounds of the playoffs. In fact, in the email sent to subscribers, there is a picture of Lin leaping in celebration. Yet, it was two days before the deadline when Lin and the Knicks’ medical staff learned that the second-year point guard/cash cow was suffering from a torn meniscus in his left knee and that he wouldn’t be jumping for joy anytime soon. Although Lin waited until Saturday before formally making the decision to have surgery, it certainly made business sense for the organization to withhold medical information about its marquee attraction. But that doesn’t explain why the Knicks, who are 2½ games ahead of Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot with 13 games left, weren’t forthcoming about Lin’s condition after Wednesday’s postseason ticket deadline passed. Nor does it explain why the Knicks contradicted interim head coach Mike Woodson, who first raised the possibility of Lin’s ‘sore’ knee injury being serious enough to keep the Knicks’ starting point guard sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. [...] On Friday in Atlanta, Woodson told reporters that he didn’t know ‘when’ or ‘if’ Lin would return to the lineup. Within one hour, the Knicks’ media relations staff released a statement to select media outlets contradicting Woodson.”