The New York Knicks elected not to match the three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet the point guard received from Houston, Knicks spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz said in an e-mail Tuesday at about 10:30 p.m. ET. Reports of the Knicks’ decision were public before the Rockets learned New York did not match the offer, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to USA TODAY Sports and requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Lin was expected to fly to Houston on Wednesday to begin the process of getting his physical and being cleared to sign with the club.

“Extremely excited and honored to be a Houston Rocket again!!” Lin tweeted Tuesday night. “Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support this past year…easily the best year of my life.”

Jeff Van Gundy thinks Lin will thrive. The ESPN analyst has a unique perspective after coaching both the Knicks and Rockets and calling Lin’s 38-point outburst on Feb. 10 against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden. Yet he still bristles at the notion that this latest craze surpasses the furor that surrounded center Yao Ming, a native of China, in Houston beginning in 2002.

Not even close, he said.

“It’s a totally different story,” said Van Gundy, who arrived in Yao’s second season. “I think this was as much about being Asian American, it was about being waived, (sent to the Development League), (attending) Harvard, and then it was about winning. And, to throw it on top, as important as all of that was, he’s doing it in New York.”

Of course, Lin tried in Houston last year. He played in two preseason games for the Rockets before being cut as the team was loaded at point guard.

“We plan to hang on this time,” general manager Daryl Morey tweeted Tuesday night.

But don’t get too hung up on New York, Van Gundy said, pointing to Yao’s immense popularity while in Houston. Lin’s tale would be unique anywhere, he said, but it only gains traction with results.

“It was a terrific story driven by his great play, but also by the Knicks winning,” Van Gundy said. “I think it would have played in Houston as well. But would it have been covered as breathlessly as it was?

“No, probably not. But it still would have been a heck of a story.”

But as David Carter, executive director of USC Sports Business Institute, points out, Houston is not New York.

“Now he’s in a smaller market,” Carter said. “There might be less attention focused on him. From a popularity standpoint, even though the league is global, they certainly would have loved to have him in a major market like New York.”

Still, Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. Plus, between 5-6% of its more than five million residents are Asian.

“People are just excited about him,” said Linda Toyota, president of the Houston Asian Chamber of Commerce. “You have to have change happen. Any time one person is different and joins a group, it changes the whole dynamic. And that’s the spirit of Houston; the people make the difference.”

David Schwab, who specializes in matching brands with celebrities as managing director at Octagon First Call, said that while Lin is an American success story, he’ll reopen marketing in-roads for Houston during Yao’s eight seasons.

“Teams base their decisions on wins and losses, because wins and losses ultimately affect ticket sales, sponsorships,” Schwab said. “I still think it’s a win-loss decision, but I think, in their case, it’s weighed more as a marketing decision. They’ve got more to gain right now, with a decade of Yao and companies they’ve done business with. They’ve got kind of the next frontier there.”

Lin’s celebrity would seem to be a welcome addition to a city seemingly void of star athlete power.

“Houston is such an international city, a melting pot, that for a number of reasons, he’d be well-received,” said Jeff Nalley CEO of Houston-based agency Select Sports. “Well, initially. He’d have to continue to create the magic that made ‘Linsanity’ possible in the first place.

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