By now, Jeremy Lin says, he has developed a go-to response for every NBA fan that meets him out in public, high on confidence and delusion, and makes him an offer too easy to refuse. The fan — maybe a former high school jock, maybe a gym rat, maybe just a guy oblivious to how good NBA players really are — will offer the challenge.



“Oh, I bet I can beat you,” he’ll say.



Lin, frustrated by the obvious disrespect, has a canned response: Sure, they can play — for $1,000.



“Quick $1,000 in my bank account,” he says. “It happens a lot. People just don’t get — these are the same people that couldn’t make it on their high school teams, couldn’t make it to college. It’s like you’re truly the best of the best of the best. There’s, whatever, 6-plus billion people and (in the NBA) 450 players and people criticize a lot and even now we watch the playoffs and we’re going...