Jeremy Lin Will Be In The Slam Dunk Contest, Sort Of

What? You thought Linsanity wasn't going to be part of all-star weekend? David Stern knows a good thing when he sees it and, this morning, the NBA confirmed that Lin will participate in the Haier shooting stars competition, making the Knicks guard eligible to help out his teammate Iman Shumpert, who's competing in the slam dunk contest.

No word yet on what Lin will be doing in the slam dunk contest—perhaps throwing alley-oop bounce passes while dressed as a giant HTC smartphone—but his entry in the shooting stars event limns an interesting political wrinkle: China and Taiwan are currently battling for ownership of Lin's heritage. The sponsor of the shooting stars competition, which involves three-person teams of NBA, WNBA, and retired players making shots from different spots on the court, is Haier. And Haier is a major Chinese home appliances and electronics company.

Which means that Lin, at the behest of Stern, will be suiting up later this month for a bunch of Qingdao refrigerator men. What? You thought that wasn't going to happen?