YES Network.com

“Linsanity” captured the attention of millions of basketball fans this year, so it’s not surprising that New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin was named by NBA TV as the inaugural winner of the Social Breakout Player of the Year Award.

Lin is the first player to ever receive this title from the NBA largely due to the explosive impact his performance had on various social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook in February; during that month, the Harvard product became a media darling when he became the first NBA player to score 20 points and record seven assists in each of his first five career starts.

“Linsanity” spread like wildfire in the social media world during that stretch, with Lin claiming more Twitter mentions than both LeBron James and Blake Griffin and gaining 20,000 to 30,000 followers on a daily basis; Lin had about 50,000 followers on Twitter prior to his emergence, but he now has more than 787,000.

The media sensation even stretched his fanbase overseas, as he gained more than 60,000 fans on Sina, China’s version of Twitter, in that first week of “Linsanity.”

Anything Lin-related became the buzz of the Internet once the phenomenon spread, and even teammate Landry Fields’ picture of the couch Lin was staying on trended on Twitter.

Lin’s season ended in March due to a knee injury, but his impact on the social media world continued en route to the Award.