NEW YORK (AFP) — Jeremy Lin, a Taiwanese-American guard whose 2012 heroics with the New York Knicks brought "Linsanity" to the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced his retirement from professional basketball on social media.

The 37-year-old playmaker, who won an NBA title in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, posted his news Saturday night on Instagram with a video of career highlights ending with a photo of himself and his family and the words "Happy retirement."

Lin, whose maternal grandmother is from China, concluded his career leading the New Taipei Kings to the Taiwan Professional Basketball League title in June with Lin taking season and finals Most Valuable Player awards.

"As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away. I’ve spent my 15-year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I've ever made," Lin wrote.

"It has been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me.”

"I've lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive everytime I touched a basketball."

Lin, who graduated from Harvard in 2010 with an economics degree, became the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA with Golden State later that year.

After one season with the Warriors, Lin was dropped in the 2011-2012 pre-season then claimed and waived by Houston before being claimed by the Knicks on 27 December 2011.

Lin played only 55 minutes over New York's first 23 games but after 11 losses in 13 games, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni turned to Lin in desperation and was rewarded in epic fashion.

Lin scored NBA career highs of 25 points, five rebounds and seven assists in sparking New York over New Jersey. Lin made his first NBA start in the next game against Utah and the Knicks went on a seven-game win streak with Lin as a starter.

In what the New York media would call "Linsanity" the Knicks surged. Lin had 23 points and 10 assists for his first double-double in a win over Washington, then scored 38 points — four more than Kobe Bryant — in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lin added a go-ahead free throw in a triumph over Minnesota and sank the game-winning three-pointer in the last second to beat Toronto — becoming the first player in NBA history with 20 points and seven assists in each of his first five starts.