Brook Lopez Talks Trip To India, Lakers, NBA Avengers And More

This article was first published on SLAMOnline.com on May 7, 2018. Read my original feature here.

He saw the Taj Mahal, one of the true wonders of the modern world, the majestic ivory-white marble mausoleum that has been standing for nearly 400 years. He took in an IPL Cricket game among cheering crowds in Mumbai. He found himself on national Indian television, covering the playoffs and connecting with local fans.

But Brook Lopez found his real passion when he got down to a familiar space: the basketball court.

This week, the Lakers center flew over to India for a short trip, on a mission to support youth basketball initiatives. Lopez spent the majority of his time at the NBA Academy India – located in Greater Noida near the capital New Delhi – to witness and train the best young players from around the country.

“There’s so much positive momentum around basketball in India and I’m glad to play a part in the growth of the game,” he said.

The NBA Academy India – an elite basketball training center connected to similar NBA Academies around the world – opened last May, with a goal to provide promising young players with what the League has called a “holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, character development and life skills.” The Academy has had a few dozen players admitted permanently over the past year and welcomed Kevin Durant last summer for a special development program.

At the Academy, Lopez attended the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA National Finals to see the boys and girls competing for the opportunity to represent India in the first Jr. NBA World Championship in August. Over the next few days, he was also present at the ACG-NBA Jump Finals to help identify the top prospects who will receive scholarships to attend the Academy. Indian basketball star Amjyot Singh – who played for the G League squad OKC Blue last season – also took part in the event along with Lopez.

Brook was not the first of the Lopez Twins to make India a part of his summer itinerary. Two years ago, his brother Robin took the same trip, where he trained young players, visited the Taj, and more. Upon returning, Robin advised his slightly elder brother to follow his footsteps to witness the rise of Indian basketball.

In the midst of his travels, SLAM caught up with Brook to discuss the passion and potential of young Indian players, training the youth in India between post and perimeter play, NBA Avengers, and considering a Bollywood role with his twin.

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SLAM: How has your time in India been so far? I know that it can be a sensory overdose at first, but what was the thing that surprised you the most?

BL: It’s been great. I’ve met a lot of very special people, people who have made my time here very enjoyable. A lot of the good that I’ve experienced has had to do with basketball. There are so many unique young players who have made it to the Academy here. What has surprised me most is the talent level and the passion that the young players have for the game. I was glad to witness it in person among the youngsters in the junior NBA boys’ and girls’ championship. I could see their passion and excitement as they cheered for each other off the bench!

I really enjoy travelling, so I was super excited to come here. It’s normal to have some expectations when you come to a new place, but this country has surpassed all the expectations I had! My trip to Taj Mahal was great. You’ve seen pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal, but to see it in person was inspiring and humbling. It’s hard to put into words. It was gorgeous and pristine, and there were so many people around to share this experience that made it really overwhelming and beautiful.

SLAM: You witnessed a lot of young Indian basketball players at the Jr. NBA Finals and ACG-NBA Jump program. What has been your takeaway from seeing the players in action here?

BL: It was really surprising to see how many talented kids there were here. The Academy gives the kids of this age a chance to grow their game, learn from their coaches, learn what they need to do, and continue to achieve their goals.

SLAM: Of course, it is often said that India’s large population is a great opportunity. But where else do you see potential for Indian basketball players to join the ranks of the top players in the NBA?

BL: I think that something big for India, besides having so many people, is the diversity of the people itself. You see all kinds of kids coming into the camp, from so many different backgrounds from vastly different regions. It’s cool to see their differences. They have different body types, different characteristics, and all with passion for the game.

SLAM: What would be your advice to young players and scouts on how to develop their skill-sets going forward as the game changes?

BL: I just tell them to work on the entirety of their game. Don’t focus on just one thing, but be the best player they can be overall. They have to be as smart as possible, develop a high basketball IQ, and not limit themselves to certain traits of “center” or “point guard.” Work on everything.

SLAM: That said, do you think post-play and under the basket offense is becoming a lost art among the young players? What did you see among the players in India?

BL: I definitely saw some flashes of [post-play]. I look at the way the game is going, and it’s becoming more “small ball.” But post-play still has a place. There were great examples of it at the camp. I saw many players at the Jr. NBA Championship that had a great instinct of the game. They just need to keep working at it.

SLAM: To shift away from basketball a little: I know you are famously a big comic-book fan – but I hope you got a chance to watch ‘Infinity War’ before you travelled?

BL: Oh yes, I did!

SLAM: Who would you say are the Avengers equivalents of NBA players in the Playoffs? I like to think of LeBron James as the Iron Man and KD as Captain America. Any other comparisons that you can think of?

BL: Well, I think of someone like Steph Curry as the Hawkeye, the sharpshooter. My brother is a huge Thor fan – I think that typifies him well! My favorite Avengers growing up were Black Panther and Hawkeye.

SLAM: Your brother has obviously been here before and experienced Indian basketball and the Taj Mahal. What did he tell you about India before you came?

BL: He told me that he just loved it. He had a great time. But he only brought back a small gift for me when he came back!

SLAM: In India, there are a lot of Bollywood films with a “double role” storyline, where the same actor plays two estranged twin brothers. Would you and Robin consider a ‘twins’ version of your own Bollywood film?

BL: Oh, we would absolutely, 100 percent, be down for that!

SLAM: Let’s talk about the Lakers a little. This upcoming offseason, it seems like everyone is rumored to join the team: LeBron, Paul George, Kawhi, etc. Do you think about these rumors?

BL: I mean there’s a lot going on. There are a lot of different options, and clearly, they all can’t happen. It’s definitely going to be an exciting offseason. But I wanna focus on what I can control. The one thing I can guarantee is that we are going to put in a lot of work in the gym.

SLAM: You’ve been a pro for almost a decade now, but this was your first time on a new team. How do you handle the off-court distractions of being on a new team, the midseason trade for Isaiah Thomas, stuff like that?

BL: Yes, there was a lot of change and transition this season. But we are a great group of guys – my teammates, the coaching staff, people in the training room, and all the way up. They made the transition as easy as possible for me. They were no qualms. It’s a great group of people and we were out there playing for the right reasons.

SLAM: The Lakers have so much young talent: Ingram, Randle, Ball, Kuzma… What do you think is the ceiling for this team?

BL: I think we have an opportunity to do great things. You look at what a team like the Warriors did by keeping their young core together and improving that way. There’s a lot to be said about their continuity. I think we want to have a solid foundation and build on it for a few years, continue to grow that way.

On Kevin Durant’s comments and India’s misplaced outrage

This article was first published in my blog for The Times of India Sports on August 13, 2017. Click here to read the original piece.

First of all, let’s get the obvious out of the way: Kevin Durant’s comments about what he saw in India were ignorant and lacked perspective.

Secondly, the outrage that has followed his comments in India has been totally misplaced and out of context.

Here’s the backstory: a few weeks ago, Durant, one of the world’s most-talented, richest, and famous basketball players, came to India on an official trip with the American National Basketball Association (NBA) to promote the sport in the country. Durant was the crown jewel of the NBA’s investments in the Indian market. A few months ago, he won his first NBA title with the Golden State Warriors and a Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. He divided opinions among fans for his decision to join the talented Warriors last year, but nobody can deny his talent and potential to be remembered as one of the greatest scorers in league history.

Even though basketball is a niche sport in India, Durant was welcome with enthusiastic support and hype. After spending his first evening meeting with Bollywood and sports celebrities in New Delhi, Durant got to work the very next day. His foundation donated two basketball courts to the Ramjas School in New Delhi and he interacted with young schoolkids at the courts’ inauguration. Later, he headed to the NBA’s state of the art elite India Academy in Greater Noida, where he trained several of India’s top teenage basketball prospects. Durant’s time at the Academy ended up as he was joined by hundreds of more young players from the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme, as well has a few thousand who checked-in via a live-stream from around the country, to create a Guinness World Record for “largest basketball lesson” (3,459 attendees). 

Before leaving India, Durant took a standard tourist pilgrimage down to Agra, where he visited the Taj Mahal. He documented his entire trip, from trying out local cuisine to hanging out at the Taj, in a short video on his YouTube channel.

So far, so good.

The trouble began with Durant returned home to the United States and was interviewed by Anthony Slater of The Athletic. It was a wide-ranging conversation that touched on his decision to take a pay-cut for the Warriors, the NBA’s summer transactions, and more. But it was what he said about India that caught the attention of the mainstream media in India.

Q: First of all, India. You just got back. What was that like?

DURANT: Um, it was a unique experience. I went with no expectation, no view on what it's supposed to be like. I usually go to places where I at least have a view in my head. India, I'm thinking I'm going to be around palaces and royalty and gold — basically thought I was going to Dubai. Then when I landed there, I saw the culture and how they live and it was rough. It's a country that's 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience. You see cows in the street, monkeys running around everywhere, hundreds of people on the side of the road, a million cars and no traffic violations. Just a bunch of underprivileged people there and they want to learn how to play basketball. That s— was really, really dope to me.

Q: Was there a particular situation or person or thing that was eye-opening on the trip?

DURANT: Yeah. As I was driving up to the Taj Mahal, like I said, I thought that this would be holy ground, super protected, very very clean. And as I'm driving up, it's like, s—, this used to remind me of some neighborhoods I would ride through as a kid. Mud in the middle of the street, houses were not finished but there were people living in them. No doors. No windows. The cows in the street, stray dogs and then, boom, Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. It's like holy s—, this was built 500 years ago and everyone comes here. It's just an eye-opener.

Now, Durant didn’t “need” to answer straightforward questions about India with this much frankness and detail, but he is known to be a fairly open guy and not afraid to say what he believes is the truth, even if it might ruffle some people the wrong way. Most foreign celebrities would have answered the questions with the token “It was a beautiful country” and “I loved how nice the people were” answers. But no, Durant chose to say what was on his mind.

But by being this frank, Durant put himself at risk of sounding extremely ignorant, which he did. I won’t expect every American to know the differences in riches, culture, and lifestyle between India and Dubai, but Durant was an ambassador for the NBA to India and should have known better. India is infinitely complicated and it’s impossible for the most-learned expert on the country to describe in a few simple soundbites, let alone a 28-year-old American athlete who has spent most of his waking moments perfecting the craft of basketball instead of catching up on international cultures and history. This is why most visitors are advised against going off the script.

The reaction by many Indians, as expected, was to take quick offense (we’re getting better at that by the day). Around the world-wide-webs, mainstream media houses that rarely report on the positives of the sport and its athletes found the type of outrage they were looking for, and people began to write open letters to Durant to make the usual “Incredible India” pitch.  

Durant swiftly responded, and a day later, apologised on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/g54w3TtAoH

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 11, 2017

Sorry that my comments about India were taken out of context, I’m grateful for the time I’ve got to spend there and I’m really pissed about how my comments came off, that’s my fault, should’ve worded that better. I spoke about the difference between my imagination and reality there is in Delhi and about where the game is compared to the rest of the world. No offense from this back, I’m coming back out there for more camps and cool shit. Sorry…

Later in the day, his manager and partner Rich Kleiman cleared the air with The Times of India to say that Durant had an “amazing time” in India.

What should we make of those careless comments and the apology that followed? India is neither “palaces and royalty and gold” nor “20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experiences”. It’s a bit of all and none of the above. It all depends on where you go, which Indians you ask, and ultimately, who your tour guides are. India isn’t “just a bunch of underprivileged people” and not full of homes without doors, of mud, and monkeys and cows roaming everywhere as Durant may have made it sound to others ignorant to the country reading his comments.

Born in Suitland, Maryland, Durant has experienced poverty and a close periphery to crime in his youth, too, but he had probably never seen the challenges that India faces in trying to move forward with a population four times as large in a landmass one-third the size of his country. Uttar Pradesh, the state where the Taj Mahal sits, in particular, is India’s most populous and one of its poorer states. If it were a separate country, UP would be the fifth-most populous in the world.

Durant’s comments were ignorant and insensitive, especially since celebrities and role models of his influence in 2017 have been forced to limit their thoughts to the lowest, most-politically-correct, common denominator. If anything, I hope that this situation forces him to learn more about India’s culture and history, and learn that, even if we might be behind in infrastructural development, there is goodness in the country that has enriched the world in so many different ways. Hopefully, he’ll fulfil his promise to return for more “cool shit”, whatever that might mean.

But the larger issue here for me is the misplaced outrage that followed Durant’s comments. I was born and bred in UP, too, and if Agra culture-shocked Durant, he should’ve seen the sensory-overload that attacks visitors to my hometown, Varanasi. It is simultaneously one of the most beautiful places on Earth while one of the most difficult.

It is easy for us as Indians to take these wild contradictions for granted. Many of us only wake up to care about India’s serious issues when we see them from foreign eyes. So many of us are okay to only care about the problems in our own home when an outsider embarrasses us to do so.

There is some truth to all of Durant’s observations. Agra may have one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but it is still a relatively underdeveloped city with a lot of poverty and crumbling infrastructure. Overall, 22 percent of Indians live below our self-defined official poverty line. Yes, there indeed are monkeys and cows running wild in many Indian cities, there are people indeed suffering, people who are poor, too many people without proper access to the basic human needs of food, shelter, and clothing.

Our outrage as Indians shouldn’t be about Kevin Durant speaking about India’s poverty; it should be about India’s poverty. I’ll quote my friend and podcast co-host Kaushik Lakshman who wrote that, “if taking offense was an Olympic sport, we’d win gold every time.” If we really want things to change, let’s turn this pent-up energy towards some positive change. 

Durant, Yao, and FIBA Asia Success – It was an auspicious week for basketball in India

This article was originally published in my blog for the Times of India Sports on August 2, 2017. Read the original piece here.

A ‘muhurat’ is an auspicious date, or series of dates, which bring good fortune to any venture. Hindu shaadis, for example, have been sticking rigorously to wedding muhurat days for centuries, ensuring that all the holy matrimonial unions are tied in the same two-week stretch in December when every citizen gains an extra six kilos on the laddoo overdose and bombastic brass bands become the soundtrack to every traffic jam.

There are muhurats for naming your child, muhurats for entering your new house, muhurats for that first haircut, and muhurats for buying a new car. Recently, however, it seemed that the basketball pundits finally shone their grace on the game: with major victories, star power, and record-breaking events, this past week ended up being one of the most auspicious weeks for basketball in India.

We should probably begin this propitious week down in Bengaluru, where India played host to the top women’s basketball teams from Asia and Oceania in the prestigious FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017. This was the first time that India was hosting a tournament of this magnitude since the same event was held in Chennai in 2009. India weren’t in the top tier at this championship and could only contend against lower pool teams in Division B. However, fans in attendance got to see several of the top players from the region hooped on Indian soil, including the Australian-American Kelsey Griffin (eventually the tournament’s MVP), China’s Li Yueru, Manami Fujioka and Moeko Nagaoka of Japan’s title-winning team, Korea’s Lim Yung-Hui and Danbi Kim, and more.

Team India, however, made the most of their circumstance in Division B and went on to top their group. Stars like Anitha Paul Durai, Jeena Scaria, Grima Merlin Varghese, and more all looked in top form with the hope to win the knockout stage and earn promotion to Division A.

By the time the knockout stage arrived, the tournament got ready to face a certain big distraction. Seven-foot-six-inches big, to be exact. In what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, Chinese basketball legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming arrived on India to watch the Cup in Bengaluru. Yao, 36, indisputably the most successful Asian basketball player in history, retired from the game in 2011 and is currently the president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Without much fanfare, Yao sat in his corner at the Sree Kantaveera Stadium, took in some high-level basketball action, and briefly donned a turban and shawl in a traditional Indian welcome from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

Less than 24-hours later, the basketball excitement in India was about to tuned up to a fever pitch. Kevin Durant of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors-the reigning NBA champion, Finals MVP, former MVP, four-time scoring champions, and definitely the greatest player to set foot on Indian soil-landed in New Delhi. The 28-year-old’s mission was to help the development of the sport in India, and from raising public awareness to helping out in the grassroots, and he did all of that in a couple of short days.

Durant was greeted with a happy set of fans when he landed in Delhi, and the fandom got considerably more star-studded at a reception with some of India’s biggest sports and entertainment celebrities on his first night. The next morning: Durant got to work. His foundation donated two basketball courts to the Ramjas School in New Delhi and he interacted with young schoolkids at the courts’ inauguration. Later, Durant headed to the NBA’s state of the art elite India Academy in Greater Noida, where he trained several of India’s top teenage basketball prospects. Durant’s time at the Academy ended up as he was joined by hundreds of more young players from the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme, as well has a few thousand who checked in via a live-stream from around the country, to create a Guinness World Record for “largest basketball lesson” (3,459 attendees).

While Durant was taking cheesy photographs at one of the seven wonders of the world in Agra, the basketball action was heating up down in Bengaluru. India had defeated Lebanon to reach the Division B final, and needed one more victory-against Kazakhstan-to ensure promotion. After falling to a 14-point deficit, India made a brave comeback to ensure that the game came down to one final shot. That shot was delivered by Pune-girl Shireen Limaye, who hit a clutch game-winner as time expired to give India a 73-71 victory and send the fans home more jubilant than a successful shaadi cocktail/sangeet party.

In the midst of all this, the BFI-Indian basketball’s governing body-were finally granted recognition among India’s National Sports Federations after spending a year outside this list by the government’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Two years ago, a drama between two parties competing for the BFI’s executive committee role had split the federation and caused the committee leading Indian basketball to lose support of several national bodies. Last month, the Indian Olympic Association finally granted affiliation to this “new” BFI, and the Sports Ministry decision last week was a cherry on the cake of the successful FIBA Asia Cup.

All in all, yes, it’s been a great few days to be a basketball fan in India. But like every married person know, a successful shaadi is not made by the date of its muhurat; it’s about all the hard work that follows. Indian basketball has enjoyed a fantastic week: now, it’s time to build about this awareness and positive energy and help the game reach the potential it deserves.

Kevin Durant to visit India to coach NBA Academy prospects and donate basketball courts

Kevin Durant's 2017 Summer Checklist:
- Win his first NBA title? Check.
- Win the Finals MVP award? Check.
- Re-sign with the Warriors on a bargain? Check.
- Visit India? Almost there!

Yes, Durant, who has been the brightest star under the scorching headline of NBA news since he joined the Golden State Warriors last year, will cap off a memorable twelve months by visiting India next week. The NBA announced that Durant will visit New Delhi and Greater Noida on July 27th to support the continued growth of basketball in the country. Durant will coach top prospects at the NBA's elite India Academy, host a large-scale clinic for thousands of young players around the country, and donate two basketball courts to a local school through his charity foundation.

Durant will begin his official trip on July 27th in New Delhi with a visit to the Ramjas School, where he will donate two new basketball courts to the school as part of the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation’s "BUILD IT AND THEY WILL BALL" Courts Renovation Initiative. Durant will then visit The NBA Academy India at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Centre in Greater Noida, becoming the first active NBA player to visit the academy. Durant will coach the prospects through a series of shooting, passing, dribbling and defensive drills. On July 28, Durant will lead a large-scale basketball clinic for 5,000 youth from the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme – 1,000 of the athletes will be onsite while the other 4,000 boys and girls will join virtually from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata via a satellite link. Durant will conclude his trip with a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra on July 29.

"I’m excited to travel to India to help promote the game of basketball and meet the prospects at The NBA Academy India," said Durant. "I’ve wanted to visit India for a long time, and I can’t wait to experience the country’s unique culture and share my knowledge with the kids there."

"We are thrilled to host 2017 Finals MVP Kevin Durant in India," said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. "Kevin is coming off an historic season with the Golden State Warriors. Having one of the very best players in our league interact with the basketball playing youth of India will serve as great inspiration to the next generation of players here, especially the high-performing prospects at The NBA Academy India."

Indeed, Durant is one of the best players - if not, the absolutely best player (with apologies to LeBron, Curry, Westbrook, Kawhi, and Harden fans) - in the NBA at this moment. That previous point might be debatable, but what is definitely not up for debate is that Durant will instantly become the most-talented basketball player to ever step foot on Indian soil. On a Hoopdarshan podcast last month, we discussed the history of NBA players to visit India, and KD's presence will be historic because he will clearly be at top of that totem pole.

By now, Durant's story is well known among NBA enthusiasts. He was the second pick by the Seattle Supersonics back in 2007, and moved with the team to become the leading star for the Oklahoma City Thunder a year later. Over the years, Durant has developed into one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, winning the 2008 Rookie of the Year, making seven All NBA teams, gathering four scoring titles, reaching his individual pinnacle with the 2014 MVP Award, winning two gold medals for USA in the Olympics and one gold at the FIBA World Championship. Last season, he spectacularly and controversially left the Thunder to join the unstoppable Golden State Warriors, whom he helped to the 2017 NBA Championship as the Finals MVP.

Durant's visit to the NBA Academy will be the highlight of the trip. The Academy, which I wrote about in detail for the most recent issue of the SLAM Magazine, opened in May and hopes to employ a "holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, character development and life skills". The NBA will be hoping that, through this Academy, they can help players with basketball promise reach their full potential.

Welcome to India, KD. Hope you survive that Delhi summer - it might be tougher than any defense you've faced in the NBA all season. Take back some curry for Steph.

Kenneth Faried is in India, watching the Playoffs and chilling at the Taj

In case you missed it, the "Manimal" himself, Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, landed in India earlier this week in behalf of the NBA to promote the ongoing NBA Playoffs. He will be travelling to Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra during his trip.

Faried's first stop was already at the Taj Mahal in Agra soon after he landed up in India on Wednesday. On Saturday, May 20, he will stop over in New Delhi where he will engage with fans at the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon as part of NBA Zone powered by Jabong, the largest basketball entertainment festival in India. On May 21, Faried will travel to Mumbai for a live television appearance on Sony SIX’s NBA morning show “Around the Hoop” to share his perspective on the NBA Playoffs.

“I’m excited to visit India for the first time and celebrate the Playoffs with fans,” said Faried. “The NBA is doing a lot to develop young players there, and I’m looking forward to seeing the passion they have for the game firsthand.”

“Hosting NBA players in India is an important part of our continued efforts to grow basketball across the country,” said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. “The opportunity to meet and interact with a player of Kenneth’s caliber will inspire young boys and girls to learn the game and the values it teaches, including teamwork, integrity and respect.”

Faried, a 6’8” forward from Newark, New Jersey, was selected 22nd overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2011 NBA Draft. Faried was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2012 and selected as the Rising Stars Challenge MVP at NBA All-Star 2013 in Houston. Faried averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over the past season for the Nuggets, who finished 9th in the West.

NBA Zone powered by Jabong is a basketball lifestyle event that brings the NBA experience to fans in India through digital and social media engagement, oncourt competitions, an innovative cinematic experience, gaming, music, merchandise giveaways and more. The event is free and open to the public and will be conducted over 26 weekends in malls across Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, reaching more than half a million fans.

KD2Desi: Kevin Durant announces plans to visit India this summer

Seasons will change. Time will pass. An NBA champion will be crowned and an eager nation will open its doors to more basketball progress. And this summer, Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors will become the greatest basketball player to step foot on Indian soil.

A former MVP and one of the biggest global stars in basketball, Durant officially made the announcement on his social media accounts on Thursday night (Friday morning in India). NBA India released further details about his trip, which will centre around his plans to visit the soon-to-be-launched NBA Academy India in the Delhi-NCR region and Durant's own ambitions to see the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Durant is currently in New Orleans for the 2017 All-Star Weekend where he will make his eighth successive appearance at the 66th NBA All-Star Game on February 19.

“I will be the first NBA player going to the Academy," Durant said, "I’m super excited about it, to grow the game of basketball to a new level. I’m so excited about the grassroots programme. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a great time."

In November, the NBA announced its plans to launch the ambitious NBA Academy India to help nurture elite young basketball talents around the country. Recently, they named the prospects chosen for the first session of this Academy after a nationwide talent hunt.

Durant had encouraging words for the selected few in an interview on Firstpost: "I think it is just the fundamentals of dribbling, shooting, passing that you know and that crossovers no matter where you are as a basketball player. So when you get those fundamentals of the game right, that's where you start at."

This is Earth-shattering news right here. With respect to all the NBA legends of the past and present who have visited India (I have a running list here!) Kevin Durant is most-likely the best-ever. That list has included Hall-of-famers like Dominique Wilkins, Robert Parish, Dikembe Mutombo, and George Gervin, and more recent stars like Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Isaiah Thomas, and Shawn Marion. Only Kevin Garnett, who made a trip to India with adidas ten years ago, is of equal status to Durant right now; but I believe that Durant in 2017 is even better than KG was in 2006.

Still in his prime at 28, Durant is the NBA's 2014 MVP, a six-time All NBA Player, eight-time All Star, and four-time scoring leader. Unless you were in an isolated vipassana for the past eight months, you probably know that Durant shocked the world by leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors, forming one of the NBA's most-fearsome units alongside two-time MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. The shift in scenery hardly effected Durant's game: he's averaging 25.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game this season while enjoying one of the most efficient shooting seasons ever. Plus, he has a couple Olympics gold medals to his name, too. With his Warriors currently holding the best record in the NBA, he is certain to be vying for an NBA Championship this June, which would add extra masala to his India trip later in the summer.

As ESPN reported, Durant is aware of Kobe Bryant's relationship with China and his popularity among the Chinese people. Durant wants to have a similar influence over fans in India.

"I think what people really appreciated about Kobe was that he really wanted to learn about different aspects of life and how people approach different things," Durant said in interview to ESPN India. "I feel the same way. I want to feel the culture when I go to India. I want to see what it's about. I want to get to touch the people and check the pulse -- not only the game, but life in general."

Finally, he also said that he has had the Taj Mahal on his "bucket list" for a long time.

Only trust the Government-approved guides, KD. Watch out where you leave your Nikes. And most importantly, Stay hydrated. Those North Indian summers are no joke.

Poonam Chaturvedi: The next next big thing

Off the court, she quietly tries to hide behind her teammates. But while silence may deny us from hearing her, she can’t stay visibly hidden for too long. A month shy of her 16th birthday, Poonam Chaturvedi is already 6 foot 6 inches tall, at least half a foot bigger than any of the other girls in her Chhattisgarh Youth team. Any attempt to hide is futile.

Poonam Chaturvedi grew so tall, so quickly, that she has already forgotten tall she exactly was just three years ago.

“A grew a lot when I was 13,” she says.

“How much did you grow?” I ask, trying to get her to be a bit more specific.

“A lot.”

It isn’t easy for a 6 foot 6 inch human being to hide, but everything from Poonam’s own shy demeanour to the years she played ball silently away from the public eye indicate that somehow, this giant teenager remained a secret. Women’s basketball in India is mostly a small girl’s game, and so anyone with the perfect advantage of height and skills literally rises head and shoulders above all to dominate. See the case of Geethu Anna Jose, India’s best known basketball player, who at 6 foot 2 has been the best player in the Women’s game for half a decade and became the first Indian to be invited for a WNBA trial.

Still at the U16 level, Poonam has already become the tallest female basketball player in India. The height came by nature, but it is the work she is putting into her game now that will help her grow into the best basketball player that she can be.

Born and bred in Kanpur (UP), Poonam now finds herself as the centerpiece of the U-16 girls side representing the Chhattisgarh state at the Youth National Basketball Championship in Nagpur. After a false start to her basketball career at the hostel in Agra, she was spotted at the National Women’s Games in Chhattisgarh by Chhattisgarh Basketball Association’s secretary Rajesh Patel. A man with a shrewd eye for scouting and grooming successful women’s basketball players, Patel, who is also the coach of Chhattisgarh’s women teams, realised that the young giant Poonam would have to become his next project.

“We saw her playing for UP at the Women’s Games and we wanted to speak to her,” Patel says, “Over the next four months, I must have called her father 30 to 40 times to try and convince him to send her to join our basketball camp in Billai (Chhattisgarh).”

Patel’s camp and hostel in Billai has gained the reputation of becoming Indian Basketball’s talent factory – it took until the end of April before Poonam finally joined the other talented young girls at the hostel, and the opportunity couldn’t have come a moment too soon.

“Back in Agra, her game wasn’t developing at all,” said Patel, “There were only six or seven girls in the hostel there, so the only practice they got was shoot-around, there were never enough to play a full five-on-five game. When we recruited her to Chhattisgarh, we barely had a month to make sure she fit in with the system. She had to be ready to play for our U16 team at the Youth Nationals.”

Her big unveiling, and her first competitive game for Chhattisgarh, was against Uttarakhand on the first day of the Youth Nationals. Still showing a lack of coordination in fitting in with the run-n-gun Chhattisgarh side, Poonam nevertheless managed to score 14 points in a dominating blowout win for her side.

“We’ve had to practice extra to fit her in,” Patel says, “For the last month, the girls would be up at 4 in the morning to practice extra drills and extra plays that involve Poonam.”

Patel’s Chhattisgarh sides have always suffered from height, but never have they let that come between them and success. In producing one of the most-triumphant programmes ever in several different age levels over the last decade, Patel has preached a style of ball-hawking defense and quick fast-break baskets to make sure that his teams almost always win.

Now, both Patel and his latest recruit are in new territory: the coach because he has to change his offensive and defensive schemes around a taller but slower player, and Poonam because she was playing with a quick team which already carried with it a winning culture. It was no surprise then that she was a step too slow in her early competitions with Chhattisgarh, but both player and coach realise that there is a long road to improvement.

“My game has improved a lot since I came to Chhattisgarh,” she says, “But I want to keep playing harder and keep improving. This is a good defensive team and I realise that my defense will need work to fit in: I still need to learn how to always stay in front of the player I’m guarding.”

Patel is even more critical of his young and potential-ridden player. “We have changed our defensive patterns for her, and she will have to fit in. But there are a lot more areas where we have been working hard on, giving her hours of extra, individual training: her jumping/athletic ability, her back to the basket game, free throws, showing, dribbling, and of course, we want her to gain more weight and bring a lot more power to her game.”

Yet, regardless of the holes in Poonam’s game, it isn’t difficult to see why this 6 foot 6 teenager is garnering all the hype at the competition. She already has a naturally good shooting stroke, a good offensive post game, and in just her first month of proper basketball training, she has become good enough to be a real threat for opponents at the Youth Nationals.

“She makes our team a lot better too,” Patel adds, “We now feel a psychological edge of having the tallest player whenever we go against any opponent. With her on this side, I know this team can qualify for the final.

But both Poonam and Patel are looking way beyond the Youth Nationals: Patel’s next aim is to make sure that Poonam is chosen for Indian National U16 Select Camp after this tournament. He is also hopeful that, with the arrival of a world class strength trainer Zak Penwell, Poonam will have just the kind of guidance she needs to bulk up into perfect shape.

“Her future is very bright,” says Patel, “She’s still young, and is already the tallest player in India: she can go a long way.”

And while her coach gives the outspoken support, and while the comparisons of ‘next Geethu’ pour in, Poonam remains confident in her own quiet and calm way. “I want to play for India,” she says.

No matter how hard she tries, a big girl with potentially bigger talent like Poonam can’t remain hidden behind anyone. Kanpur and Agra saw her grow, Chhattisgarh helped her develop, and Nagpur will see the early fruits of the combination of skill and size. And it won’t be long before all of India Basketball knows about the next next big thing.