12:31 p.m. | Updated

From the moment that Jeremy Lin began his extraordinary streak , Knicks fans have had two nagging thoughts: Can he keep it up? And can we keep him?

Knicks fans can relax.

Lin answered the first question convincingly, stringing together four fantastic performances over seven days heading into Saturday night’s game against Minnesota. The answer to the second question is an unqualified yes.

Lin will be a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the Knicks can match any offer he receives, without respect to the salary cap. So if the Knicks want to keep him in July, they have every means to do so.

The Knicks do not own any so-called Bird rights on Lin because he was acquired on waivers. However, they are protected by what is known as the Gilbert Arenas rule. That provision, named for the former Washington guard, adopted in 2005, limits rival teams from offering anything more than the average player salary to a restricted free agent with two years or fewer in the N.B.A.

The Knicks will be able to use their midlevel exception, which is slightly higher than the average player salary, to sign Lin or to match any offer. If no other team tenders Lin an offer, the Knicks can use any part of their midlevel exception or biannual exception to sign him.

After going undrafted in 2010, Lin signed a two-year deal with the Golden State Warriors. The second year ensured his restricted free-agent status. That classification would have disappeared had Lin become a free agent after the Warriors waived him in early December.

But t The Houston Rockets claimed Lin off waivers and inherited that status, which was transferred to the Knicks when they claimed Lin on Dec. 27, after Houston waived him.

Lin was in danger of being waived again, by the Knicks, before he started his streak Feb. 3. He had done little to establish himself before then, although he showed a few glimmers in games against Houston and Boston.

A key decision point was approaching: whether to keep Lin and guarantee his $788,000 contract for the season, or to release him. Teams had until Feb. 7 to cut players with nonguaranteed deals, and Knicks officials had thoughts about waiving Lin.

“His expiration date was coming up,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said in an interview last week. “We had to evaluate to see if there was something there or not.”

The guarantee deadline “kind of prompted us” to give Lin more playing time, he said.

Lin was shaky in that Boston game, but D’Antoni decided to give Lin another shot the next night against the Nets.

Lin responded with the best game of his career, with 25 points and 7 assists off the bench. Two nights later, he got his first start and set the bar even higher, with 28 points and 8 assists.

Suddenly, there was no decision to make. Lin will be a Knick for the rest of this season, and almost certainly beyond.