The 23-year-old will now rejoin a Rockets team that has few established players and a wealth of young talent it is reportedly tirelessly trying to use to acquire Magic star Dwight Howard. In Houston, Lin will get to play in coach Kevin McHale’s point guard-friendly system—under which both Lowry and Dragic thrived last season—and in a city that features a large Asian fanbase thanks to former Rockets star Yao Ming.

The point guard, who also last week won the ESPY award for Best Breakthrough Athlete, becomes the second Harvard alum to receive a breakthrough payday in the past year. Last October, Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 capitalized on his own string of successes to sign a six-year, $59 million deal.

But Fitzpatrick’s signing came with far less attention from the country, as over the past few days Twitter, sports talk shows, and newspaper columns have exploded with reactions that reflected the astonishment many felt about the Knicks planning to let walk the player largely credited with saving their 2012 season.

Just like that, Lin was gone in a New York minute, his departure almost as abrupt as his arrival, when he lit up Madison Square Garden for 25 points against Deron Williams’ Nets to begin a run as unexpected it was historic.

Now, as if that had never happened, Lin is a Rocket once again, and though Lowry, Dragic, Flynn, and Dalembert are all gone, Houston may have finally found a solution to its problem.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.