Linsanity Creates Bull Market?

How good is the story of the New York Knicks’ surprise star Jeremy Lin? So good it’s even helping stock prices.

The former benchwarmer has become one of the biggest stories to the National Basketball Association in quite some time, and has driven Madison Square Garden Co. shares to a record high, according to Bloomberg. Shares of MSG climbed 3.7 percent to $32.31 Feb. 13 after trading at a record high of $33.18. That’s up 10 percent since Lin came off the bench Feb. 3, beating the S&P 500 by a wide margin.

Lin, who was cut by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, came off the Knicks bench Feb. 4 to score 25 points, with seven assists, against the New Jersey Nets. He then scored 28 points and eight assists against the Utah Jazz in his first career start – the first player to do that since Isiah Thomas in 1981.

Then came a 23-point, 10-assist game against the Washington Wizards and, finally, the Los Angeles Lakers got a first-hand glimpse of “Linsanity” when Lin lit up Kobe Bryant and Co. for 38 points and seven assists Feb. 10.

Not only has it helped attendance at Knicks games at the Garden, Lin’s jersey is flying off the shelves at sporting goods stores.

“We even talked about buying MSG stock because of him,” a Manhattan resident told Bloomberg. “We should have done that before the Lakers game.”

David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co., told Bloomberg Lin’s play might even bring an end to the programming-fee standoff MSG is having with Time Warner Cable.

“Shares keep going up because he’s come on and is doing a great job,” Joyce said. “That hope then translates into maybe this gets Time Warner Cable and MSG back to the negotiating table.”