A league source Thursday confirmed a New York Daily News report that the NBA will make Lin part of the field for the Haier Shooting Stars competition during All-Star Saturday night.

NBA commissioner David Stern told USA Today earlier this week that Lin would not be a special late addition to the BBVA Rising Stars game that features rookies and second-year players, but the NBA was pressured to add him after he scored 136 points in his first five starts, most by an NBA player since the merger with the ABA in 1976-77.

Lin, who attended last year's All-Star Game in Los Angeles, said he wasn't concerned about any fatigue associated with participating in All Star Weekend.

"My season's only been seven games long. I'm doing OK. I'm just going to play in one game and it's not really going to be taxing on my body," Lin said. "(I'll) probably stand around half court and throw a couple alley-oop passes. That's more just a fun thing and an honor to be out there."

The sports world has been captivated by the Lin phenomenon. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks -- who visited the Knicks on Sunday -- said the story is good for the league because it comes in the nation's biggest media market.

"If it was happening in Charlotte, no one would know," Cuban said, exaggerating for effect.

"New York is still kind of the mecca of the media for basketball," Cuban added. "It's great for the league, so you've got to love it. And Jeremy Lin is a great kid, so I'm happy for him."

The fact that Lin is the first Asian-American starter in NBA history adds intrigue to his fascinating underdog tale, Cuban said.

"Oh, absolutely," Cuban said. "I don't know about cultural impact. It's just because it's a question of the odds. Just statistically speaking, not culturally speaking, it's an aberration for the same reason that Yao (Ming) and Yi (Jianlian) and some of the other Asian players were.

"Whenever an underdog comes out of nowhere and doesn't fit a particular profile ... everybody profiles athletes, right? So to have him come in and be counter to everybody's profile or expectations -- right or wrong -- draws attention and that's good. Hopefully, that will encourage other kids and even more diversity with kids who play basketball."

Lin started his NBA career with the Mavericks' Las Vegas summer league team in 2010, when he was the best guard on a roster that included recent Dallas first-round picks Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones. Lin's stock rose significantly when he outplayed Washington's John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft, in a summer league game.

The Mavericks, who wanted Lin to develop for a season with their D-League affiliate Texas Legends, offered him a one-year guaranteed contract. However, Lin opted to return to his native Bay Area when the Warriors offered him a two-year deal.

The Warriors let Lin go while clearing salary-cap space after the lockout was lifted in an unsuccessful attempt to sign center DeAndre Jordan. The Rockets picked Lin up and waived him a couple of weeks later on Christmas Eve, creating a roster spot to sign center Samuel Dalembert.

And the Knicks had planned to part with Lin before his contract became guaranteed, until he suddenly started producing like an elite point guard.

Warriors general manager Larry Riley admitted that his team missed out on someone they thought would only be a fluke.

"We can't take the position he's a fluke, because he isn't," Riley said in a phone interview with the Contra Costa Times. "Jeremy Lin will have a 10-year career in this league. People are expecting him to fall off the face of the earth. That's not going to happen."

Keeping Lin was not a priority for the Warriors, who went hard after Jordan. Riley told the Contra Costa Times that co-owner Joe Lacob was the most reluctant to dismiss Lin.

"(Lacob) really didn't want to do it, more than any of us. But we knew we had to" cut Lin, Riley told the paper. "We needed a center, and we felt we had a good chance to get one."

"I never saw Jeremy Lin as a starter on a winning team in the NBA," Riley continued. "I did see him as a backup. So he did exceed our expectations. He exceeded everyone's expectations, except probably his own."