As a throng of Chinese reporters crowded in front of him, Jeremy Lin briefly cast his eyes toward the distant skyline of Manhattan, the birthplace of Linsanity.

It has been four years since Mr. Lin seemed to inspire New Yorkers and Asians around the world with his mystical, mythical string of performances with the New York Knicks.

But now, as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Mr. Lin says he has a different perspective on his fame and his popularity as the first American-born N.B.A. player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent.

“When it first started, I’m not going to lie, it was cool, and then it became a burden,” he said at the Nets’ practice facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “I didn’t really know what I had gotten myself into. One, two, three, four years later, every year I embrace it more. Every year I’m more appreciative, every year I love it more.”