Jeremy Lin's Chances of Playing in Next Year's Basketball World Cup Diminish After Taiwan Loses in FIBA Asia Championship

The Taiwanese men's national basketball team were eliminated from the FIBA Asia Championship on Sunday, losing to South Korea 75-57, in the third-place game, erasing any chance of making it to next year's Basketball World Cup

With Taiwan's elimination from the FIBA Asia Championship, every opportunity Jeremy Lin had of playing in the Basketball World Cup, being held in Spain, has all but disappeared. Taiwan had previously asked Lin, who is Taiwanese-American, to play in the 2011 Asian championship, held in China, but Lin declined at the time due to a knee injury.

This year, despite upsetting China in the quarterfinals, 98-78, and needing one win to qualify for the Basketball World Cup, Taiwan failed to get past Iran, losing 79-60 in Saturday's semifinals, before falling to South Korea in Sunday's battle for third-place.

Taiwan finished the game with only 12 assists to their opponent's 21, shot 5-20 from the three-point range and 12-21 from the free-throw line, and committed 17 turnovers.

The hunt isn't over entirely, though. Taiwan still may have a chance to qualify as wild-card. Should Taiwan earn the wild-card berth, Taiwan will likely reach out to Lin to play for the national team. Taiwan is willing to invest up to $33.4 million, starting in 2014, to help strengthen their basketball program - including hiring professional coaches and improving basketball facilities around the country.

Lin, Dwight Howard, James Harden, and the rest of the Houston Rockets will travel to Taipei in October to play in an NBA exhibition game against the Indiana Pacers as part of the NBA Global Games series, which helps promote and develop the sport of basketball abroad.