 Based on comments he heard that his talents were " deceptive " , Lin stated in a 2013 60 Minutes interview that it was his " gut feeling " his ethnicity contributed to his being undrafted . NBA commissioner David Stern also believed Lin was not drafted due to discrimination . " I don 't know whether he was discriminated against because he was at Harvard . Or because he was Asian , " said Stern . Some fans and commentators wrote off his Warriors signing as a publicity stunt . Larry Riley , the team 's general manager , denied catering to the Bay Area 's large Asian population . He understood that some people would see it that way . " We evaluated him throughout summer league , " Riley said . " All that had to happen was for him to confirm what we already believed . " While the team created a campaign around him , Riley said it would not have been advisable if Lin was not a basketball player first . 
