The last few seasons with the Rockets and Lakers have been a little more tumultuous for your career, but you seem to have found this stable role in Charlotte where you’re right at home. I can’t help but notice that now your hair’s all crazy…
[laughs]
…can you indulge me and pretend there’s a deeper meaning here?
I think this just may be a sign of where I’m at. Like, personally, just being able to enjoy everything a little more. I think when I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have been so free or loose with my hair, or whatever it might be. I think at this point I’m just really in a place where I feel like I’m… I’m… [pauses] I’m able to enjoy and appreciate God’s blessing in putting me here in the NBA, versus in years past [when I wasn’t] really able to enjoy that ’cause I was so fixated on what I needed to do or accomplish. So I think the whole hair thing is just an example of that.
Have your parents said anything about it to you?
I’ve definitely had several stern conversations with my parents. Once they realized that it wasn’t having any effect on me, they kind of gave up.
So you didn’t have any of these haircuts growing up?
I had a mushroom cut when I was a little kid growing up. And I pretty much had the standard Asian cut for all of high school and a faux hawk for, like, five years.
When you go in the locker room before a game, do you have your mind made up already on how you’re going to wear your hair? Or do you wing it?
The only time where I’ll have it planned out before is if someone requests it. So, like, when I go to D.C., my friend in D.C. will want me to do this style, but when I go home, one of my homies from home will want me to do this style. So I just change it up based on whatever city I’m playing in. If there’s a friend there that’ll specifically want something, I’ll do it. If not, then I’ll just figure it out and do whatever I feel like.
Sometimes—a lot of times—I ask Spencer Hawes. He makes a lot of the decisions on what I should do, and he gives me a lot of pointers. So if I’m ever at a point where I really don’t know what to do and I don’t have any friends at that city, he’ll usually be like, “Alright, do this,” and that’s what I might end up doing.
Has he ever requested anything and you’re like, “Nah, dog, I’m not gonna touch that?”
He requested the side part, which I refused to do for a while, but then I ended up doing it.
Why were you so against the side part?
Oh, not the side part. The middle part.
Oh, like the Boy Meets World ’90s joint or whatever.
Yeah, exactly.
Dude, that’s coming back this year! I don’t know, I think you should think about rocking it more.
We’ll see, we’ll see.
Is there anything we can expect for your next game against the Wizards?
I think I’m gonna go mohawk ’cause I haven’t done it in a while. I mean, a big reason I haven’t done it is I ran out of gel on the road trip, so tonight I’ll probably just do the mohawk ’cause I got more gel.
[Ed. note: He went with the side part.]
Do you feel like having the offensive weapon that is your spiky mohawk makes you bolder offensively?
No, but it allows the refs to see if I get fouled a little more clearly.
Article Appeared @http://www.gq.com/story/jeremy-lin-nba-hair-interview