The company of giants

India has made basketball history without their most popular basketball player. Now, as Satnam Singh returns to the national team, could he lead the team to further greatness?

This article was first published in my blog for The Times of India on April 21, 2017. Click here for the original piece.

Years before he made history by becoming the first Indian player to be drafted into the NBA, Satnam Singh was asked to punch far above his weight. He was a 15-year-old giant when he was selected to make his debut for India’s men’s national team in 2011 by head coach Kenny Natt. Natt had decided to inject some youth and size into the men’s roster for the Middle Asia Zone qualifiers in New Delhi. Satnam was to become the youngest-player to ever don a Senior India basketball jersey, but a couple of other teenage Punjabi talents – Amjyot Singh Gill and Amritpal Singh – were picked to make their senior debuts, too.

I was present at the Thyagraj Stadium for that qualifying round – Natt, Satnam, Amjyot, and Amritpal’s first senior international outings – when India showed glimpses of their future potential with comfortable wins at home against South Asian opponents. Later that year, this team headed to China for the FIBA Asia Championship and underperformed, but the seeds of the future had been sown. In these three teenagers, India had found the size they were looking for.

Fast forward nearly six years, and the Indian basketball side finds itself in much better shape. Natt provided the spark, which was lit brighter by his successor Scott Flemming, and it continued to shine even after Flemming’s departure. Over the last few years, led by Amjyot, Amritpal, star shooting-guard Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, and a deep supporting cast, India has twice defeated Asia’s top-ranked team China in international competitions, and most recently, had their best basketball performance in nearly three decades with a 7th place finish at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in Tehran.

Although we have improved on various fronts, the true key to unlock this ‘golden era’ of sorts has been the maturation of our bigs. Amjyot (25 – 6-foot-8) and Amritpal (25 – 6-foot-10) have become one of the most formidable frontcourts in Asia, and their talents have taken them to play professionally in Japan, declare for the NBA’s D-League, and be invited to the NBL Draft Combine in Australia. Right behind them, players like Palpreet Singh Brar and Rikin Pethani have given us depth in that frontcourt, too: Palpreet (23 – 6-foot-9), in particular, has improved rapidly and became the first Indian to be drafted in the NBA D-League last year (although he never earned a roster spot). Veteran forward Yadwinder Singh (30 – 6-foot-6) is still an important part of the national team and impressed at the NBA Combine recently in Australia, too.

The only one missing from the equation has been Satnam (21 – 7-foot-2), the young man who became the poster boy of Indian basketball when he was drafted to the NBA by the Dallas Mavericks in 2015. Satnam, who was recruited to play at the IMG Academy in the United States as a 14-year-old in 2010, hasn’t played for India since 2013. Instead, he has spent the last few years improving his skills in the USA and playing for the NBA D-League team Texas Legends.

His absence has allowed Amjyot, Amritpal, and Palpreet to blossom into stars and India has, ironically, made basketball history without their most popular basketball player.

In a few months, it is all set to change. The 2017 FIBA Asia Cup – Asia’s most-prestigious basketball championship which will feature top teams from Oceania for the first time – is set to take place in Lebanon in August. With Amjyot, Amritpal, and Bhriguvanshi already in top form, India were looking poised to make some major noise and significantly improve their low FIBA World Ranking (currently 53rd). But earlier this week, the BFI announced that Satnam will be returning to the national team after a four-year hiatus. If all the available players are healthy, India will have its best-possible pool of talent to choose from for Lebanon.

The reunion of Satnam with Amjyot, Amritpal, and Yadwinder, alongside the younger wave of big men in contention like Palpreet, Pethani, Arvind Arumugam, Aravind Annadurai, and Ravi Bhardwaj have given India a sudden embarrassment of riches in the power forward and center positions. Counting the backcourt, only twelve can make the final roster for the FIBA Asia Cup; whoever will be appointed the team’s head coach (the last man in charge was Bhaskar Sappaniambalam for the Super Kung Sheung Cup in Hong Kong) will have the headache of sifting through these company of giants to pick six for Lebanon.

Furthermore, the coach will have to decide if he will continue to start with the successful duo of Amjyot and Amritpal and relegate Satnam – he of worldwide hype and NBA D-League experience – to the bench.

My pick for the starting five will be to stick with Amjyot and Amritpal; between the two of them, they have given India incredible frontcourt versatility over the last three years and formed a close bond from playing together in Japan. Amritpal, an elite post defender, plays closer to the basket on both ends of the floor. Amjyot has developed into a threat from both the perimeter and the post and helps space the floor for Amritpal in the middle. Satnam is a solid rim protector, can finish from inside and out and is stronger than both Amjyot and Amritpal. But he is slower on his feet and inexperienced with the national team.

At the FIBA Asia Challenge last year, India defeated Philippines and China to enter the Quarter-Final stage, where they were stopped by eventual winners, Iran. Iran featured Hamed Haddadi, the 7-foot-2 behemoth dominant center, who tormented India with 17 points and 23 rebounds in this crucial game. It will be in situations like these, going against elite strong players in the post, where Satnam’s presence will be most valuable, and India’s depth at the big man position will give us a fighting chance.

The bigger problem for India, however, is going to be in the backcourt. While Bhriguvanshi has proven to be one of the finer Asian players in his position, India have no other players who can consistently challenge to match the talent and athleticism of other international guards. Expectations will be high for TJ Sahi, Akilan Pari, and rising youngster Baladhaneshwar Poiyamozhi, but without better perimeter options, the Indian lineup will remain flawed.

Despite this unbalance, one of the secrets to India’s recent success has been the team’s chemistry and comfort-level with each other. My hope is that Satnam can intermingle his game smoothly with our other top players without disturbing this chemistry. The best-case scenario for India will be if he can master the delicate equilibrium between being at his individual best while playing within the team system.

All of Asia and Oceania’s top qualifying teams – China, Philippines, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Australia, and New Zealand – will be sending their best-possible rosters for the prestigious tournament this year. With Satnam, Amjyot, Amritpal, Vishesh, and Palpreet on the roster, India may have, on paper, our greatest team ever. Could they lead the national team to further greatness?

Hoopdarshan Episode 44: Eban Hyams on UBA Pro League and Australian Basketball

Eban Hyams is a truly global citizen, raised in India and Australia, and with professional basketball experience around the world. Most recently, Hyams has been a part of the UBA Basketball League in India. In Episode 44, he joins Hoopdarshan to talk to hosts Kaushik Lakshman and Karan Madhok about his experience leading the Haryana Gold, the Australian basketball scene, and his favourite emojis.

Hyams, a point-guard, has been in the UBA from its inception. Born in Pune to Jewish-Indian parents, he has played college basketball in the USA and professional basketball in Australia, Singapore, Philippines, and Belgium. He has trained with India's national basketball team under Coach Kenny Natt and worked with NBA India around the country holding basketball training sessions. In addition to the interview with Hyams, Kaushik and Karan also discuss the end of the Federation Cup and the upcoming NBA Playoffs.



Hoopdarshan is the truest voice of Indian basketball, and since we're such hopeless fans of the game, it will become the voice of everything basketball related we love, from the NBA to international hoops, too. On every episode of Hoopdarshan, we will be inviting a special guest to interview or chat to about a variety of topics. With expert insight from some of the brightest and most-involved people in the world of Indian basketball, we hope to bring this conversation to a many more interested fans, players, and followers of the game.

Make sure to follow Hoopdarshan on Soundcloud or search for 'Hoopdarshan' on the iTunes Store! Auto-sync Hoopdarshan to your preferred podcast app NOW!

Hoopdarshan can be found on...

• - iTunes: Hoopdarshan 
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• - On Twitter: @Hoopdarshan 
• - Facebook.com/Hoopdarshan 

Amjyot's Ascent

Amjyot Singh’s rapid journey to become the superstar that Indian basketball desperately needed.

This feature was first published in my column for Ekalavyas on October 14, 2015. Click here to read the original article.

On one end of the court, Amjyot Singh defended the star perimeter player, and when his opponent switched on a pick, moved in to deny a scoring opportunity to a different player in the post. On the other end of the court, the 6-foot-8 forward stretched his slower defender out to the three-point line and bombed away. Through the course of the game, he continued to secure rebounds, assists, and steals as per his team’s need. Late in the game, with the result still hanging in the balance, he trailed on a fastbreak behind teammate Vinay Kaushik, cleaned up Kaushik’s missed lay-up off the glass, and slammed it home, securing the Indian lead and the tournament’s most crucial victory.

When the final buzzer rang, India had squeaked past the higher rated Palestine team 73-70 in the Second Round of the 2015 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in Changsha (China). Amjyot’s teammates surrounded him in jubilation and supported him back to the locker room, just as he had supported them for the entire game. Amjyot finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds, playing 39 of the total 40 minutes in the game to earn India this surprise win and hand Palestine their first loss in the tournament.

Less than 24 hours later, while most Indians were still being awoken to the kook-ra-koo of the morning rooster or the hollers of the kabari-wallah, Amjyot was in China dominating opponents again, leading India with 26 and 12 to yet another close win over Hong Kong.

The stellar performances on all ends of the court – displaying both his motor and his versatility – would continue for Amjyot throughout the course of the 2015 FIBA ABC, which he finished as India’s leading scorer and the fourth-leading scorer in the tournament (20.9 ppg) and India’s leading rebounder (8.3 rpg) and helped the team finish at 8th place, their best results in 12 years. India lost to the mighty Chinese at the Quarter-Final stage, but Amjyot left Changsha as one of the top performers in Asia.

Hailing from Chandigarh, the 23-year-old Amjyot’s rise in prominence as the best player in Indian national colours has paradoxically been both expected and surprising. Amjyot used to be a cricket player in school, but a shoulder injury kept him out of the game for three months. He watched his father – a basketball player – on the court while injured and his interest for the game grew. Soon, he began to sneak out of his after-school cricket practices to play basketball instead. At 15, he ditched cricket for basketball forever.

He broke into the ranks of India’s youth (under-16) team in 2008, and then became the latest recruit to Ludhiana’s famed Basketball Academy – the same academy which has produced the likes of Yadwinder Singh, Amrit Pal Singh, TJ Sahi, Satnam Singh, Jagdeep Bains, Seema Singh and many more – under the legendary late coach Dr S. Subramanian.

The discovery helped his ascent, but it was not as early as a player of his potential deserved. In most countries with a better youth scouting system, a talent like Amjyot Singh would’ve been ‘discovered’ and moulded at the highest level available from his pre-teens onwards. Amjyot had to wait till was nearly of college age to receive elite-level coaching. His mastery of the game accelerated, but his late bloom also served as a reminder of how much better he could’ve become had he received serious instruction of the game earlier.

At 19, Amjyot was selected by the then-Head Coach Kenny Natt to India’s senior national team for the first time to play in the South Asia qualifiers and the 2011 FIBA Asia Basketball Championship. Amjyot showed great promise for India off the bench, and ever since – even as coaches and teammates changed – he became one of the lynchpins for the national team.

Of course, one can’t speak of Amjyot without speaking of two other Punjabi big men who made the national team debut in 2011 alongside him. Senior national team rookies Amjyot, Amrit Pal Singh, and Satnam Singh – all products of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy – beefed up Kenny Natt’s frontcourt together in an explosion of youth and size that Indian basketball had rarely been blessed with before. Since then, Amrit Pal has been Amjyot’s partner in the national team’s starting frontcourt for the last few years as the two big men dominated at the domestic level, improved at the international level, and headed together to play professionally for the same teams in Japan.

The story of Satnam Singh diverted sharply. Satnam – four years younger and five inches taller than Amjyot – spent much of his later teenage years in High School at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA, where he developed into a solid young player and eventually became the first Indian to be drafted into the NBA earlier this year. Satnam’s focus on High School hoops in the USA and NBA tryouts kept him out of Indian national team duty after 2013. In his absence, Amjyot and Amrit Pal grabbed the reigns in the middle and flourished in the India jersey.

But it wasn’t until 2014 that the legend of Amjyot – and the Indian Men’s team around him – took a sharp turn into higher, uncharted territory. At the FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China, Amjyot and Amrit Pal – both Sikhs who don the customary turbans to cover their long hair – faced the discrimination of FIBA’s “No Headgear” policy in their first game against Japan, leading to a distracted start and a loss. A day later, hair tied by headbands, Amjyot and India – led by Head Coach Scott Flemming – took out their frustrations on hosts China, the finest team in the continent.

Amjyot scored a game-high 13 points to go with five rebounds and was masterful on both ends of the floor against the Chinese bigs to help India upset China – for the first time in history – with a 65-58 win. A highlight of the victory was the clutch alley-oop dunk finished by Amjyot to secure the lead for India in the game’s dying minutes. Amjyot would go on to lead India in points, rebounds, and steals at the tournament and make waves with the local and continental media for his skill and versatility. Even more astonishingly, Amjyot and India earned respect at the FIBA Asia Cup despite having any professional basketball experience.

His work at Wuhan, and later, his domestic and international play at the Asian Games, got Amjyot recruited – along with Amrit Pal – to become the first Indian players chosen for Japanese BJ Summer League in summer of 2015. The two Indian bigs dominated the competition, so much so that they were handed Japanese D-League contracts with the Tokyo Excellence soon after.

By the time he re-joined Team India in preparation for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha, Amjyot had clearly elevated himself into one of the leaders of a national team in flux, along with Amrit Pal and experienced captain Vishesh Bhriguvanshi. India had a new head coach (Sat Prakash Yadav) and were missing five top players who had played a key role in the wonders at Wuhan. Lacking gravely in depth, the big three of Amjyot, Amrit Pal, and Vishesh had to shoulder the heaviest weights in carrying the squad – Amjyot finished the tournament playing a team-high 37 minutes per game, third-most in the competition.

But instead of pressing him down, the heavier load only pulled the rising star higher up. Amjyot always played like a guard blessed with more size than he had expected. He had the game of a swingman and the height to better most Asian forwards.

In Changsha, however, his game elevated to another level; there was fluidity with which he moved, handled the ball, and attacked the basket, a confidence that seemed to have been triggered at the recent realization that few in the continent could now stop him or match-up with the offensive arsenal that he had developed. Amjyot played with a combination of inside and outside, height and speed, strength and agility; the only way to guard him was to be as physically gifted as him.

But it isn’t enough to be only physically gifted: the reason that Amjyot has become one of India’s most prominent male players in recent decades is that he has played with a humility and duty to put team over self. While other prodigious Indian talents – think TJ Sahi or S. Robinson – came up short of their potential, Amjyot seems to be charging rapidly towards his. While many players halted the progress of team development, Amjyot’s rise has come in sync with the rise of Team India. He constantly deflected all the praises we lavished upon him in our Hoopdarshan interview towards his teammates, and speaking to FIBA after his big performance against Palestine, he laughed off his own 32-point, 11-rebound effort by talking about his teammates instead: “They do all the hard work, and I get to score.”

India has had several individual talents in the last few decades, but there have been few whose talents have worked consistently to provide positive results for the nation. As of now, it may not be a stretch to say that he can be the best male basketball player for India since Jayasankar Menon, who was named to the Asian All Star team in the mid-90s and was nominated for an Arjuna Award.

If this was cricket, Amjyot Singh – the best performer for the Indian basketball team and one of the best players in his position in Asia – would've been a household name in India by now. Unfortunately, every other sport in the country takes a major backseat in the eyes of the Indian mainstream after cricket.

The last Indian basketball player to make news across the country was Satnam Singh, on the day he was drafted into the NBA. But Amjyot has done more for the Indian national team, and may be a better overall talent than Satnam right now. Satnam, of course, has an age and size advantage, which will see him start his professional career in the NBA D-League.

Meanwhile Amjyot (and Amrit Pal) will be heading back to Tokyo for the Japanese D-League, but the former’s performances at Changsha have alerted basketball scouts across the globe of his talents and (still untapped) potential. It would not surprise me if offers from other Asian leagues or Europe come calling. And one can never discount the possibility of that dream NBA or NBDL trial, either.

In a short span of time, Amjyot Singh’s ascent into the Asian basketball elite has been marvellous and heartening. It should give hope to other late bloomers of the game as well as encourage coaches (and parents) in India not to waste the early, formative years of potential talents. Meanwhile, the Indian basketball family and fans will hope that Amjyot continues to improve, continues to rise up the ranks of Asia’s best players, and with him, carries India higher up, too.

Big Dreams: The day that Indian Basketball, the NBA, and Satnam Singh Bhamara changed forever

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas on July 12, 2015. Click here to read the original post.

Satnam Singh at the 65th Senior National Basketball
Basketball Championship 2014, in Bhilwara. Photo
Courtesy: Ekalavyas - Vishnu Ravi Shankar

The Present.

Dressed in a dapper, dark blue single-breasted suit, Satnam Singh Bhamara sat anxiously on the crowded floor of the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. A single Thursday evening in late June had the potential to change the 19-year-old’s life forever, and forever make history for Indian Basketball and the NBA.

But nothing was certain. The previous few weeks had turned Satnam from an unknown 7-footer out of High School into a possible late Second-Round pick. His name had made its way on to the draft boards, but being a potential late Second-Round pick is too close to being undrafted, too close to a dream deferred. The NBA Draft has only 60 picks, which means only 60 dreams are guaranteed to come true on that night. And as the picks went on, and the teams who had worked out Satnam with chose other players, that number edged closer and closer to 60.

And then, after pick number 52 was announced, nothing was the same again.

*

The Past.

Dressed in a plain, striped white shirt and blue jeans, Satnam Singh Bhamara sat anxiously at the former office of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) near Paharganj in New Delhi. A single basketball workout a few weeks ago had changed the 14-year-old’s life forever, and set into motion a new era for Indian Basketball.

But still, there was uncertainty. That day in the BFI office – in the summer of 2010 – was the first time I got to meet and get to know Satnam. Just a month before that meeting, Satnam was one among 50 boys and girls – all under 14 from every corner of India – who were invited to New Delhi by the BFI for trials hosted for IMG Reliance for a potential IMG Academy scholarship programme. The youngsters were chosen based on their performances at the recent Sub-Junior National Basketball championship.

Satnam was the centrepiece – literally and figuratively – of those trials. While the rest of the players were 13 or younger, a special exception was made for the 14-year-old 7-footer who was played for Punjab’s Youth (U16) team already and had recently led them to a national championship in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. A year earlier, at just 13, he had already played for India at the FIBA Asia U16 Championship in Malaysia.

IMG-Reliance had recently signed a sponsorship deal with the BFI to sponsor the federation events and provide this rare scholarship programme. After the tryouts, IMG’s coach Dan Barto chose four boys and four girls for the scholarship at his basketball academy back in Florida, USA. Unsurprisingly, Satnam was the biggest name among the eight.

So there he was at the BFI office in New Delhi, a few months before his semester of school was due to begin in Bradenton with the IMG Academy. He sat nervously in the office – barely being able to stretch his large legs on a bench in the tiny space – and waited for his paperwork to get cleared. He spoke only in thick Punjabi and needed by help to fill out his English visa form for the United States.

He had been handed a scholarship at one of the top youth sport academies in the world, but back then, he didn’t really know what it meant. In my earlier conversations, he talked with uncertainty about the future. Uncertainty about how he, a boy who grew up in a farming village with less than 700 people and trained at the squalor of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy in Punjab, a boy who was barely familiar with urban India, would now be exposed to a First World nation, exposed to some of the world’s best training facilities, and a culture at a polar opposite to his own. He didn’t know that the way he was educated and coached would change forever.

He had heard whispers – said wistfully rather than confidently – that he had the potential of becoming the first NBA player out of India. He told me that his dream was indeed to play in the NBA one day. His potential had been co-signed early by Troy Justice, the NBA’s Director of Basketball Operations in India back then. Here he was, a boy who played for Punjab’s youth teams and was being forced to pay his dues as a backup over less-talented seniors in the national team being told that he could do what no Indian had done in 60 or 70 years of history of both the NBA and Indian Basketball.

He was anxious about his visa process, sure, as every Indian applying for US visa ever is. But he was calmly confident about his chances with the NBA ‘one day’. No one knew when, of if, that ‘one day’ would ever come. Maybe the confidence was a virtue of his ignorance, of him not yet being aware of the low odds of making the world’s best basketball league, of the combination of hard work, opportunity, and luck that goes into making that dream a reality.

He got that visa, and along with seven other Indian basketball-playing kids, headed off to Florida. And nothing was the same again.

*

Aside from providing basketball fans with the greatest basketball players, teams, and moments in history, the NBA has also been at the forefront of social change and bringing the world closer through the sport. They featured the league’s first black player (Earl Lloyd) in 1950, drafted the first European players (Fernando Martin and Georgi Glouchkov) in 1985, brought in first Chinese player (Wang Zhi Zhi) in 1999, their first openly gay player (Jason Collins) in 2014, and of course, the first Indian-descent player (Sim Bhullar) earlier this year.

The seven-footed center Wang Zhi Zhi – the first Chinese player in the NBA – was drafted 36^th by the Dallas Mavericks in 1999. 16 years later, it was these same Mavericks who were on the clock at the 2015 NBA draft with their second round pick – number 52 – and an Indian seven-footer waiting in the wings to become a part of history.

China always had a long history with basketball and success with the sport in Asia, but the game only became the nation’s favourite as the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) was launched in the mid-90s and Wang’s drafting was followed by Yao Ming going number one to the Houston Rockets in 2002. Yao’s short but successful career thrust the spotlight on China’s billion-plus as they became the largest basketball market on Earth.

The NBA have been wishing for India – another billion-strong nation – to mirror that success, too. Of course, our nation has different complications. Over here, most other sports including basketball exist under cricket’s ever-dominating shadow. The NBA put in their efforts over the last half decade to have a bigger grassroots presence in India, bring NBA superstars closer to fans in the country, and accelerate the availability and broadcast of NBA content to Indians. The NBA had come to India, all that was left was for an Indian to go to the NBA.

*

Satnam Singh Bhamara – at 14 – came to America a complete stranger to the country’s culture, language, and educational system. He struggled in class and missed his family back in Punjab. But it helped to have the other prospects from India – his friends Sanjeev Kumar, Dinesh Mishra, and Ashiv Jain – with face the early cultural experiences together.

It also helped to have basketball. Satnam improved his game with the coaches at IMG, specifically Coach Barto who had scouted him in India and eventually, Coach Kenny Natt – the former coach of the Sacramento Kings – who had also been the former coach of India’s national squad and had given Satnam his first senior international appearance for India. In 2012, Natt joined the IMG Academy staff as well, and his familiarity with the big Punjabi kid added another positive dimension to the training process.

On court at the academy, Satnam spent the next five years with focus on improving his strength and conditioning as a priority, and eventually making his mark for IMG’s senior team. Back home in India, he continued to return for some domestic championships, playing well for Punjab whenever he got a chance. After Natt gave him the senior debut at the FIBA Asia Championship in 2011, he played for India’s senior national team for a couple of more Asian tournaments. At the FIBA Asia Under-16 tournaments in Vietnam, he made waves by emerging as one of the top youth talents in the continent.

Off court, he improved his English and eventually, began to see a realistic roadmap for his future. As he reached college eligibility, several mid and high level NCAA colleges showed him interest, but his English wasn’t good enough to get him the grades required. So he took a bold risk and declared for the NBA draft. Over the next few weeks, he impressed scouts in pre-draft workouts around the league, and, with confidence in his abilities, he waited for Draft Day. 

*

Karl Anthony-Towns went first to Minnesota, D’Angelo Russell went second to the Lakers. Several hours later, NBA Commissioner announced the last pick of the First Round – Kevin Looney – going 30^th to the champion Golden State Warriors.

A few minutes later, deputy commissioner Mark Tatum took over to welcome in the picks for the Second Round. Turkey’s Cedi Osman was at 31. Josh Richardson went 40^th. And as more time passed and the night got older, the numbers inched closer to the end. The Orlando Magic picked Tyler Harvey at 51. With less than 10 more picks to be drafted, it was going to be now or never for Satnam.

Then, Tatum walked out to the stage again. “With the 52^nd pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks select… Satnam Singh…” a section of the crowd erupted, “… From Chawke, India. He last played for IMG Academy.”

Hugs. A draft hat. A handshake with the deputy commissioner. A life transformed.

On draft night, Satnam went from being an unknown international prospect to a player drafted into the NBA within a matter of minutes. But those few minutes were only the crowning glory of the culmination of years of hard work, fortunate opportunities, support from friends, family, and coaches, and many anxious waits.

Those few minutes signified a dream realized, the end of a journey that few in Indian basketball ever saw possible. 

*

Or, they signify the beginning of another journey.

Getting drafted into the NBA and playing in the NBA are two vastly and widely different achievements. Once he signs his first NBA contract, Satnam will be hoping to be named in the Mavericks’ Summer League and earn some minutes in Las Vegas. It is highly likely that he’ll start the regular season in Frisco instead of Dallas, playing for the Mavericks’ affiliate D-League team Texas Legends. Here, he’ll have the opportunity to learn the pace of the professional game, become more confident against better opponents, and further develop physically and technically as a player.

Blessed with his gargantuan 7-foot-2 frame, Satnam has age and size on his side. In the long-term, the best-case scenario for him – if the Mavericks are able to get the most of his potential – would be to eventually secure a steady backup NBA job for several years. Those invested in Indian basketball will be desperately wishing for Satnam to make the leap into earning NBA playing time. Even his smallest steps will leave giant footprints. For a country so anxious for basketball role models, any success for Satnam – no matter how miniscule – will be a positive and influential step forward. 

However his journey proceeds, Satnam has already achieved the impossible. The boy from a non-descript Punjabi village has come further than the distance between Ballo Ke and Dallas and jumped higher than his own gargantuan height. On Draft Night, he may have been a relatively unknown giant in a sharp suit; but once he was drafted, his name rung viral across fans in India, and eventually, fans around the world, too.

*

The future?

Dressed in a Royal Blue Mavericks jersey with the name ‘Satnam’ in silver on the back, Satnam Singh Bhamara waits on the bench for his number to be called. With a couple of minutes left in the first quarter, Coach Rick Carlisle looks to the end of the bench and nods at him. Satnam jumps up on his feet, checks in at the scorer’s table, and exchanges dabs with the exiting player on court.

He steps on an NBA court and nothing is ever the same again.

Interview: India's Satnam Singh declares for NBA Draft, discusses his improvements and options ahead

These are exciting times if you're a seven-foot-plus Punjabi guy that plays basketball. Earlier this month, the 22-year-old 7-5 Canadian-Punjabi Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian-descent to play in the NBA when he featured for the Sacramento Kings. Just a few weeks later, India may get their first citizen a step closer to the world's finest basketball league. 19-year-old 7-1 talent Satnam Singh Bhamara - who hails from the Ballo Ke village in Punjab but has perfected his skills at the IMG Academy in Florida, USA - has now declared for the 2015 NBA Draft.

Bhamara, who has represented India at the the Senior and Youth levels multiple times as a teenager already, is one of the finest basketball talents to ever come out of the country. His fascinating story saw him emerge as a farmer's son from the tiny Ballo Ke village in Punjab at age 10 to quickly become one of India's hottest young talents in less than four years. At 14, Bhamara was selected by the IMG on a scholarship programme to learn the game further and play at the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He has been there since 2010, only to return to India for holidays or to play in occasional national/international tournaments.

Last week, Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel reported that Bhamara - after finishing High School - was not able to secure a college scholarship and thus decided to directly explore the NBA draft. Yesterday, the NBA made it official when they announced the list of early entry candidates for the 2015 draft, which included Bhamara.

"I've declared for the NBA draft," Bhamara told me via a Skype conversation from Florida earlier this week, "Currently, I'm taking part in pre-draft training with three other prospects at IMG. From the next month, I have to go and do practices and pre-draft workouts with a number of NBA teams that are showing interest in me."

Bhamara said that he has been offered a lot of assistance in the process of learning and game and moving forward with his NBA fans by IMG coaches Dan Barto and Kenny Natt, the latter of whom was India's national team basketball coach from 2011-12 and played Bhamara in several international tournaments.

"My coaches suggested that I should try for the NBA draft," Bhamara said, "I've spent the last year practicing and working out, playing with Coach Natt's IMG team. My coaches have been training me hard. I think I've never practiced this hard in my life. I've felt like I've been training in the army, like the Khalsa Army!"

Bhamara is currently in Florida at IMG Academy, where he played for the post graduate team and averaged 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in less than 20 minutes per game for the No. 2 team in the country. He drew recruiting interest from Purdue, Pittsburgh, USC, USF and UMass. In his report, Pete Thamel opined that Bhamara's game is considered to have a bigger upside than his Canadian-Indian predecessor Sim Bhullar. But despite his basketball talents, he couldn't secure a college scholarship in the United States.

"My grades weren't good enough for college," Bhullar told me, "I was asked by many people why I'm bypassing college, but the grades were a challenge. I could barely even speak English when I first came here. [His English is much more proficient now] I'm sure that if I had started earlier, I would've made it to college here."

Despite the academic setback, Bhamara is confident that he will be ready for the elite challenge that the NBA will bring.

"I've improved my speed, running up and down the court, and my shooting and post-play have both improved a bit," he said, "I've learnt how to react to different situations in the court, 24-second situations, 10-second situations, all types of tense situations. My coaches have told me that I'm ready for the NBA. In High School games here, I get guarded by three defenders each time, but in the NBA, I will be single-guarded because my outside shooters will be better. You can't leave them open, and one-one-one, I can work the man who's guarding me and have the power to go past him."

Around this time a year ago, Sim Bhullar - who played two years of NCAA D1 college basketball for New Mexico State - also declared for the NBA draft, before going undrafted, playing in the Summer League for the Kings, and eventually, heading to the NBA's Development League (NBDL). Bhamara is adamant that, if his NBA gamble doesn't work out, he will stay in the USA to continue striving for a shot at the top level of the game.

"If NBA team doesn't work out, I hope to try with the D-League, and then try for the NBA again," he said, "I want to try here in USA: this is where the level of basketball is the highest. I'm familiar with it. If I try to go play basketball in a league in another foreign country, I'll have to learn another language and get suited to another lifestyle, and it may get complicated."

Ultimately, Bhamara hopes to inspire others from India - especially those from far-out parts of the country outside of mainstream reach - to explore their NBA dreams, too.

"I want 10 more players to come out of India after me," he said, "I don't want to be the only one to be there. I want to work it out there and prove myself so that 10 more will come, and 20 more after that. I want to open a road in India for basketball. I'm from a small village, there could be others like me in small villages or towns in India who can dream of playing in the NBA."

I asked him if he had told his parents the news of his NBA declaration yet.

"They will only get the good news when I make it to the NBA!"

Ambitious words from a talent young man - but does he have enough to challenge the best and brightest basketball players in the world? Bhamara is currently not high in the picture of this coming summer's top draft prospects (the respected website DraftExpress.com ranks him at 94th) but he could change all that if he can impress scouts at the pre-draft workouts. Thamel added in his report that Bhamara has managed to stay injury free this past year and has shown improvements in shooting with both hands, being a reliable free throw shooter, and acting as a defensive presence. His weaknesses are his agility and lateral movement, writes Thamel, things that he can focus on as a professional for the next few years.

There will be hundreds of prospects competing for the same dreams that Bhamara strives for, but few - if any - will have a more intriguing story. At 10, he was farming in a tiny Indian village and told me that he didn't know the difference between basketball and volleyball. At 19, he finds himself working out with NBA teams and fighting for a spot in the world's finest basketball league. Regardless of what happens ahead, he has already improved and achieved beyond his wildest dreams. Indian basketball fans will be wishing that he can keep the momentum going so that he can become the first Indian player in the NBA and become a role model for millions others back home. Hopefully, his parents get to hear some good news, soon!

Lost opportunities have limited the potential of many Indian star basketball players

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas on January 31, 2015. Click here to read the original post.

Amrit Pal Singh rises over his opposition during the recently concluded
 Senior National Basketball Championship. Singh was named the Most
Valuable Player in India’s marquee annual event - Photo courtesy:
Ekalavyas

From the very first time I saw Amrit Pal Singh play basketball, I knew that it was already too late.

Back in 2011, Amrit Pal had been one of the new additions to India’s senior national team, led by former Head Coach Kenny Natt to play in the Middle Asia Zone qualifiers in New Delhi. As hosts, India had to get past South Asian opponents like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan to qualify for the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. Amrit Pal – an unknown quantity in Indian basketball until then – played just 12 minutes a game off the bench in India’s three contests but ended up becoming the qualifiers’ biggest breakthrough story. He averaged 13.3 ppg to finish as India’s second-leading scorer and was a beast in the block on both ends of the floor. India won all its games by an average margin of nearly 68 points per game and qualified for the bigger continental tournament.

Usually, the progression of a breakthrough young player to stardom can be tracked back much earlier at the national level in India. Youngsters who perform well at the under-14 level usually graduate to under-16 teams, the best under-16s get to represent the nation’s colours in youth FIBA championships, the improving talents among them move on to dominance at the under-18 or Junior FIBA Asia games, and finally, the best of the best get the opportunity to don a Team India jersey at the senior level. Occasionally, some bright young talents fizzle away and some forgotten bench players become late bloomers.

But no one ever jumped into centre stage as quickly and surprisingly as Amrit Pal. At 19, he was in the village of Fattuwal in Punjab, helping his farmer father plough a rice field. At 20, he was playing for India at the FIBA Asia Championship. By 23, he was India’s best post player and team captain, helping the side pick up its greatest ever basketball triumph with a memorable victory over China last summer.

Amrit Pal’s rise is the ultimate story of a late bloomer who defeated the odds to make the most of his natural talent in limited time. In four years, he had graduated from never seeing a basketball to being the captain of the country’s senior national squad. But interlaced with this heart-warming story is also a sobering reminder of an opportunity lost, a potential left unfulfilled. By the time Amrit Pal was discovered at 19, it was already too late. He has made the most of what he could, but, if the circumstances had been right, he could’ve been so much more.

And Amrit Pal isn’t alone. Over the last decade alone, there have been several Indian players – like S. Robinson, TJ Sahi, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Amjyot Singh, and Palpreet Singh Brar – who’ve had the potential to become more dominant stars on the Asian and global scale, but due to late discovery or mismanagement, their potentials were never realized.

Most expert scouts will tell you that many of the players named above – if given access to better coaching and opportunity at an earlier age – could’ve developed into professional players worthy of international recognition. If a player of Amrit Pal’s natural gifts had been honed and trained a decade earlier, he could’ve been on his way to becoming the first Indian national to play at the NCAA Division 1 level and have a real shot at the NBA.

In North America, Europe, and more competitive Asian countries like China, young players with promise are given regular exposure and top coaching opportunities from the age of nine or 10. Basketball for those who improve and specialize in the sport because a clear goal to achieve instead of just a pastime. Most of the top players in the world start playing the game earlier in their lives and thus have much more time to improve their physical and mental approaches to by the time they reach the professional or senior level.

Of course, we still have years (if not decades) before we can match the efficiency and professionalism of scouting and training in the best basketball nations, but India has its own advantage: the world’s largest youth population. Most states in India have functional basketball federations or associations who have access to players from many of their chief districts. Some chhupa rustams (hidden talents) will always go unnoticed, but we have the numbers and the capability to help the development of the majority that we do find.

Currently, with Indian educational culture focusing on academics over other talents in a child, schools rarely have a programme to allow serious exploration of a non-academic speciality – like basketball – at an early age. By the teenage years, regular tournaments for the luckier ones may see them make an impression at the district level, and the best ones may be considered to represent their state. But by then, a lot of fundamental hoops education has already been skipped over by the child’s first coaches and it becomes too late to properly learn those early fundamentals. This is one of the issues that India’s national coaches are hoping to address with ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes, where coaching philosophies and techniques are taught from one coach to another until they reach children at all the grassroots.

But age isn’t the only hindrance. In many situations, the coaches or team management in India’s grassroots have overzealously guarded their players from exposure or blocked them from exploring other, better opportunities. Ideally, if a talented young player is discovered in a state with poor infrastructure or coaching resources, the player should transfer elsewhere where a system can best enhance his or her natural penchant for the game. Unfortunately, there are too many players around the country who were never given that release – or even that encouragement – from their early coaches, and remained battling with mediocrity.

Punjab’s duo of Amjyot Singh and Palpreet Singh Brar are other examples of discovery left too late. Brar, like Amrit Pal, was a relatively unknown quantity before having his big breakout as India’s best player in the junior team at the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship in Mongolia. Amjyot, at 22, might already be India’s best player. He was another one of the country’s top players at last summer’s FIBA Asia Cup and has the talent to be a professional player in Asia’s top leagues. But, just like Amrit Pal, the late bloom of both these players is only an example of how much more they could’ve done if their talent had been spotted earlier. With the right exposure and training earlier, all three bigs – Amrit Pal, Amjyot, and Palpreet – should’ve had an opportunity and earned a scholarship to develop their game further at a top US college.

Then, there are the cases like Tamil Nadu great Sozhasingarayer Robinson, known more simply as S. Robinson. The fan favourite power forward reached cult status when he scored 36 to help India beat South Korea at the 2004 Stankovic Cup. But clashes with authority led him to be banned from state and country, an early retirement, and an underwhelming comeback. Without proper guidance and a support system, the cold war between Robinson and the Federation robbed India of one of its great performers of the last decade.

Punjab’s explosive point guard TJ Sahi – nicknamed Air India – was a similar story of rebellion gone wrong and potential gone awry. On pure talent alone, Sahi should’ve been India’s starting point guard for the majority of the past 10 years. He has enjoyed a decent national team career and has had some notable highlights for India, and once outdid Blake Griffin’s ‘over the car’ dunk, with a more Indian remix. But Sahi only received his big break for Punjab at the junior level, when years of potential for the skilled young ball-handler were already wasted. Like Robinson, clashes with authority and lack of discipline denied him further greatness.

The one notable exception has been Satnam Singh Bhamara, the talented 7-footer out of Ballo Ke in Punjab, who was scouted and picked to play at the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, USA, at 14. Bhamara’s game has developed gradually. Equally as importantly, he has learned invaluable lessons on improving his game off the court, such as his work in the weight room through strength and conditioning opportunities that would’ve never been available to him back home. But the IMG scholarship to Bhamara and a few others in 2010 was a one-off, and opportunities like that won’t be falling into the laps of our other good young players anytime soon.

Before he headed to Florida, Bhamara was a produce of India’s richest ‘bread basket of basketball’ in Punjab. In recent years, Bhamara, Sahi, Amrit Pal, Amjyot, Sahi, Brar, and other players like Jagdeep Singh Bains, Yadwinder Singh, Loveneet Singh Atwal, were all found and honed through the Ludhiana Basketball Academy in Punjab. The academy – and the state – has done a good job at developing the athletic talent available in the ‘Land of Five Rivers’, but their efforts need to dial up to begin training players at an earlier age, not just when it is a convenient time to start participating in state or national championships.

Hindsight, of course, is 20/20, and nothing can now change the lost opportunities of the past. What we can do is learn from the past to help improve the future. The players named above prove that ‘lack of talent’ is not an excuse anymore for India’s performances at the international level. India, and our billion plus, have a wealth of potential basketball talent, but unfortunately, it is too late by the time most of them are discovered and developed.

If scouted and trained in the right fundamentals of basketball earlier, India should be able to field a unit capable of challenging the best teams in the continent and feature star players who can play professionally in basketball leagues in Asia, Europe, or even the NBA.

Great Leap Forward

Last month, American coach Scott Flemming inspired India to their biggest-ever victory. Could this be the game-changing moment for basketball in the country, asks Karan Madhok

This article was first published in Tehelka Magazine (Issue 33, Volume 11) in the magazine's August 16, 2014 edition. Here is another look at the feature.

Coming of age: Indian players celebrate their Asia Cup victory over China in Wuhan. Photo: Karan Madhok for Ekalavyas.com

When the buzzer rang to signify the game’s end, all 12 members of the Indian men’s basketball team — affectionately nicknamed the Young Cagers — jumped into each other’s arms, celebrating together with glee rarely felt in the country’s basketball scene before.

For the first time in India’s seven-decade- long basketball history, they had done the impossible, defeating China 65- 58 last month in Wuhan, the most populous city in central China. The Chinese are the Goliaths of Asian basketball and among the top dozen teams in the world. India, placed 61st in the Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) rankings, shocked the home crowd during the 5th FIBA Asia Cup, a biennial tournament featuring the continent’s top teams. Two years ago, the Indians were at the bottom of the pile, while China usually finish at the top more often than any other side. But on 13 July, the tables were turned.

While India’s heroes celebrated the stunning win on the court, the mastermind behind this improbable victory watched in silence from the sidelines, calmly soaking in the once-in-a-lifetime moment for him and his team.

In 2012, American Scott Flemming became the latest in the line of foreign coaches hired to make the most of India’s untapped potential. Two years later, he finally saw the fruits of his labours. India didn’t just defeat China, they became the breakout story of the tournament, as they gave headaches to top Asian teams such as Iran and the Philippines.

“I think we have proved that we belong,” said Flemming, 56, as he looked back at the team’s improved performances. “I don’t think there is anybody here that we feel we can’t beat. We have gotten past that point where we thought we had very little chance of winning. Those days are long gone. Now, we are going into every game knowing that we have an opportunity. It is a new day for India.”

But was this performance just a fluke in India’s otherwise dismal history?

The first national basketball championship was held in New Delhi in 1934 and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), the game’s governing body in the country, was formed in 1950. Fifteen years later, the men’s team first took part in the FIBA Asia Championship — the highest platform for the game in the continent. Their best finish in the tournament was fourth place in 1975, and they have never reached those heights again. In 1980, as many countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics at the height of the Cold War, India made their first and only Olympic basketball appearance, but lost all seven of their games by an average margin of over 48 points each.

Game-changer Coach Scott Flemming. Photo: fiba.com

Limited to mostly Asian tournaments over the past few decades, the Indian team had been reduced to the role of minnows against the continent’s giants, happy to compete for participation points rather than gold. India’s current FIBA world ranking sees them trail behind the likes of the Virgin Islands, Cape Verde and Georgia.

Which is why the ‘Wonder of Wuhan’ — India’s surprise victory over China last month — will be remembered in the country’s basketball history forever. Although China fielded mostly a second-string squad for this tournament, they still featured those who will play professionally in the Chinese Basketball Association, one of the continent’s top professional leagues. Truly, all the countries India faced had players who play professional basketball for a living. The only exception was India.

All of India’s finest players today, such as Amjyot Singh, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi and Amrit Pal Singh, are semi-professionals who have other day jobs and only participate in basketball tournaments to represent their state or the government unit that they work for. India is also among the handful of teams in Asia that don’t take advantage of FIBA’s ‘naturalised player’ rule, which allows each country to field one foreign-born player ‘naturalised’ into their nation. Since India doesn’t allow dual citizenship, no foreign player has given up his/her original passport to join India’s cause. Every single member of Team India was born, bred, and learnt to dribble the basketball — for better or worse — in India.

While India managed to defeat China, the latter is miles ahead in the marathon. Basketball is China’s favourite sport and the country boasts of world-class basketball infrastructure, star players such as Yao Ming, who have featured in the NBA (the world’s top basketball league in the US), and concentrated grassroots efforts that have produced hundreds of millions of talented young players.

Meanwhile, India has an unbalanced and mostly disorganised grassroots nursing system, and sorely lacks the necessary infrastructure to support our top talents, and the team’s exploits are mostly ignored by the mainstream media.

Worst of all, internal politics within the national and state federations have stunted any real growth and there is rarely any motivation from those who are in the basketball fraternity to rise higher. Many stay content to swivel around in mediocrity.

When he first came to India, an important part of Flemming’s mission was to change this attitude. So far, he has helped India take baby steps to success. On the court, the team has vastly improved on the defensive end and takes better care of the ball on the offence. Additionally, a growing sense of team chemistry through continuity has helped produce improved results in international tournaments over the past year, such as the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in the Philippines and the Lusofonia Games in Goa where India won gold.

Flemming succeeded fellow American Kenny Natt, a former NBA player and head coach. But with limited time and resources, Natt couldn’t provide the team the needed turnaround in his 18-month stint. In 2012, Flemming came to India with 30 years of coaching experience, mostly at top college programmes in the US. He last served as an assistant coach to the NBA’s Development League side Texas Legends.

“My mission has been to improve India’s total national team programme from the under-14 team to the senior team,” says Flemming. “This can be done only with some consistency in player development methods and installing the same system of play. I also wanted to be a coach to other coaches in the country.

“It was my goal to narrow the gap between the top teams in Asia and our Indian national team. I have really emphasised the defensive part of the game with our team. I think this is being demonstrated by our opponents’ lower field goal percentages and lower scores. Defence will always help neutralise teams with more talent.”

India’s improved performances are a perfect underdog story, but it shouldn’t be. The country has the population and enough wealth to take bigger strides in the sport than they have taken so far.

Jayasankar Menon, who captained the national team in the 1990s, says that although India has taken real steps forward, only a professional league can herald a period of sustained success.

“Without a pro league, India cannot improve any further,” he says, “As far as players are concerned, playing for India once or a hundred times is the same. I have come across this situation after playing for India for a decade. The players need to be financially settled and only a pro league can make this happen. It is the right time for the administrators to act. Watch how the kabaddi and badminton leagues have done it. I know there are a lot of ifs and buts but the pro league is the answer.”

The responsibility for providing this answer will ultimately fall upon the BFI and its sponsors, a partnership between global sports/media company IMG Worldwide and India’s biggest conglomerate, Reliance. IMG-Reliance and the BFI have been planning to launch a professional league for years, and their efforts to grow the game at the grassroots with school and college leagues across cities has been a major step forward to get the game to more youth than ever before.

The recent launch of the football Indian Super League (ISL) — also organised by IMG-Reliance — provides a ray of hope for Indian basketball, as IMG chairman Mike Dolan announced that the ISL model would be used to launch India’s first professional league next year.

As many global observers have noted, basketball is one of the world’s fastestgrowing sports. With the interest of IMG-Reliance and the NBA, the 1.2 billion-strong country has the potential to become the game’s next lucrative market. But only a high-quality product will capture the fans’ attention, and the future performances of the national squad will determine if India can continue to provide a product to market to the larger masses.

“After the Asia Cup we have the confidence that we can compete with the top teams in Asia,” says Flemming, “We need to take the next step and win more of those games. We have come a long way, but still have a lot of room for improvement.”

Flemming’s two-year contract with Team India will come to an end in a few months, and he has said that he will evaluate the plans of his family and of the BFI before taking any future decisions. But regardless of his future, he has already secured his name in Indian basketball history by helping the Young Cagers finally grow up to defeat China and giving basketball fans in the country a moment that could change the game forever.

Every NBA player to have ever visited India - The Comprehensive List

When Satnam Singh's name was called 52nd on the 2015 NBA Draft Night, he became the first Indian to be drafted into the world's finest basketball league. While he still has miles to go before he makes his first appearance in an NBA game, he sat set the wheels in motion for many other Indians to potentially follow him to the league. But while we wait for Indians to make it to the NBA, there has been no shortage of NBA players from coming to India.

India has great potential as a basketball market, and over the past half a decade or so, the NBA has come to realize and support that potential. Dozens of NBA players have already stepped foot on Indian shores in recent years, most of them sent by the NBA itself, but many others visited with other personal and professional agendas. Apart from imparting leading basketball training clinics, many of the visits were also highlighted by charity events.

I've been keeping a tally of these visits ever since the inception of this blog. Looking ahead to the future, and it seems that the number of these visits will only increase - the new Indian-born owner of the Sacramento Kings Vivek Ranadive has even dreamt of bringing the entire squad for an exhibition game in India.

So, before the numbers get too out of hand, here is the running list of every NBA player - past and present - to have visited India. Although I have scoured recent history comprehensively, there is no doubt that I may have missed visits several older visits, or visits done in complete privacy without any media fanfare (for example, Phil Jackson may or may not have spent the late 70s trekking across the Himalayas). Feel free to contact me to update the list with any such cases.

Kevin Garnett: October 2006 - In his last year's as a Timberwolf, KG took part in an adidas promotional trip through Asia which seemed to be years ahead of its time. He visited schools and adidas stores New Delhi and Bangalore, and stopped by the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Dominque Wilkins, Sam Perkins, Ronny Turiaf, Kyle Korver, Pat Garrity, Linton Johnson: July 2008 - The NBA's Basketball Without Borders Asia camp was held in New Delhi in the 2008 summer. A group of former and current NBA players - headlined by none other than the Human Highlight Film himself - came to India for the event. Although they were there for coaching programmes at BWB in New Delhi, they also visited the Taj Mahal. Korver started his trip in Kolkata, where he took part in charity work with the foundation left behind by Mother Teresa.

Robert Parish, Marty Conlon: November 2008 - Former Celtic great Parish and retired big man Conlon came to Mumbai for the NBA/WNBA Hoop School programme. Conlon, who works with the NBA office, has made several more visits to India.

AC Green: April 2009 - The former Laker came to Mumbai to inaugurate a basketball court in Nagpada.

Baron Davis: July 2009 - When B-Diddy was with the Clippers, he took a summer trip to India to kick off the NBA Jam event at a mall in Mumbai.

Dikembe Mutombo: December 2009 - The fearsome Mount Mutombo himself was in Mumbai and Chennai to unveil new basketball courts in both cities.

Marty Conlon: July 2010 - Conlon returned to India to assist the NBA Challenge event in Bangalore.

Dwight Howard: August 2010 - Howard was still with the Magic when he made his trip to India, and, at its time, it was the most important visit by an NBA player yet. The NBA sent him to the Delhi-NCR region and to Bangalore for a promotional trip. Dwight took part in fan events at malls, visited a zoo, and held a clinic in Bangalore with India's national team.

Pau Gasol: August 2010 - Just weeks after Howard, the NBA sent another big All Star - Pau Gasol. Gasol went to Delhi and Mumbai, taking part in NBA Cares programmes and holding clinics in schools in both cities.

George Gervin: February 2011 - The Iceman - along with WNBA star Katie Smith - came to India in a trip sponsored by the US Department of State and the NBA. They held clinics and charity events in Delhi and Mumbai.

Shawn Bradley: March 2011 - Quietly, without any fanfare, the former NBA center volunteered at a leprosy colony in the Thottanaval village in Tamil Nadu as behalf of the Rising Star Outreach.

Brandon Jennings: May 2011- While still with the Bucks, the NBA sent Jennings to Mumbai and he also made the first official NBA visit to Pune. He Attended Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA National Skills Challenge Finals in Mumbai, held clinics in both cities, and took part in charity events with Magic Bus.

Boris Diaw: Summer 2011 - The San Antonio Spur came to India to intern under photographer Steve Winter who was working on a wildlife photography project on tigers at the Bandhavgarh National Park in Umaria, Madhya Pradesh.

Kenny Natt: May 2011-June 2012 - More people perhaps remember him as a coach, but Kenny Natt was also a journeyman NBA player for most of the 80s. After serving as interim head coach of the Kings, he came to India as the Head Coach of the Senior National Men's squad. Over the year he spent in the country, Natt traveled to several cities attending training camps, tournaments, and coaches' coaching programmes. He held clinics with the national squad of course and the junior squads too. He led India to the FIBA Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, in 2011. And much, much more.

Steve Smith: September 2011 - While working with NBA TV, Smith came to Delhi-NCR to help inaugurate NBA Jam and also spend some time working out with India's U16 squad.

Muggsy Bogues: January 2012 - The NBA's shortest ever player came to New Delhi where he interacted and trained young players in local schools.

Raja Bell: July 2012 - Bell was in New Delhi, where he trained with India’s National Men’s Team and participated in a variety of fan events and basketball development programmes.

Robert Horry: September 2012 - Mr. Big Shot came for the launch of NBA 3x tournaments to Delhi-NCR.

Luc Longley: October 2012 - The former Chicago Bull Center visited India for the Finals of the first-ever Mahindra NBA Challenge National Championship in New Delhi.

Jerome Williams, Paul Grant, Anthony Bonner: December 2012 - The Junkyard Dog Jerome Williams and a couple of retired NBA journeymen joined an American squad called 'Superpower' to take part in the legendary Savio Cup Tournament in Mumbai. They won the tournament.

Chris Bosh: July 2013 - In the most-hyped trip made by an NBA player to India to date, Chris Bosh visited Mumbai amidst much fanfare. The "#NamasteBosh" promotions laid the groundwork for this big visit, which Bosh made soon after capturing his second NBA title with the Heat. Bosh visited sites around Mumbai, announced new season of NBA Jam, held development camps, visited schools and colleges and took part in charity event. He also made a personal visit to the Taj Mahal.

Horace Grant, Ron Harper, Peja Stojakovic September 2013 - The three former champions from various squads came to Mumbai for the NBA Jam Finals. Grant visited New Delhi as well.

Muggsy Bogues: Feburary 2014 - Bogues returned to India to assist with the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Programme in Mumbai and Kochi.

Isaiah Thomas: June 2014 - In one of his last public appearances as a Sacramento King, Thomas conducted basketball clinics at schools and community organizations across Mumbai and Chennai, provided in-depth analysis to the NBA Finals on Sony SIX, and more.

Bruce Bowen: October - November 2014 - The three-time former NBA champ of the San Antonio Spurs was in India as the 2014-15 NBA season tipped off. Bowen attended NBA Jam and Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA events in Kolkata, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, and Ludhiana, His was the first official NBA visit to Kolkata. 

Vlade Divac: December 2014 - Former King and Laker Vlade Divac accompanied Kings' Indian owner Vivek Ranadive and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to a trip to India. Divac visited a school in Mumbai as part of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme and took part in a UNICEF visit LTMC Medical College in Mumbai.

Cedric Ceballos: January 2015 - The former NBA All Star and Slam Dunk contest - who played for the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, and several other teams in the 90s - came to India to host the UBA Men's National University Basketball Championship in Chennai and judge the tournament's slam dunk contest.

Shandon Anderson - March 2015 - Anderson was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of Bengaluru's Jain University's four-day sports festival VIE 2015. He played in the NBA for a decade after becoming the 54th pick by the Utah Jazz in 1996, later moving to the Rockets, Knicks, and finally, the Heat. Random.

Sim Bhullar - May 2015 - The first NBA player of Indian-descent, the 7-foot-5 Canadian Center who played for the Sacramento Kings, Bhullar came to India soon after the Kings' regular season ended. His trip was a perfect culmination of hoops, fun, cultural exchanges, and glamour. In Mumbai, he mingled with Bollywood top brass like Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, and Ranveer Singh, andwas a special guest on the IPL cricket show Extraa Innings. He surprised young basketball players at YMCA courts in Bandra, joined young players in a Jr NBA camp in New Delhi, and spoke to the media about his hopes for more Indians to follow him into the NBA. He took part in the ‘#Simsanity Challenge’ put forth by Indian fans in social media, fitting into an Auto-Rickshaw and saying Indian tongue-twisters. In Amritsar, he reconnected with his Punjabi roots and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple before heading to Pingalwara, a home for individuals suffering from incurable and terminal diseases, to which his family made a contribution. In Chandigarh, he conducted a basketball coaching clinics.

Jason Richardson - October/November 2015 - 14-year retired veteran and two-time Slam Dunk champion Jason Richardson came to India from October 29th - November 1st 2015 for a three-day promotional tour of the country for the NBA Jam and the continued growth of basketball in India. Richardson travelled to New Delhi, Ahmedabad (Gujarat), and Mumbai to conduct basketball clinics for players and coaches alike and engage with fans at two of the NBA's premier events in India: the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme and NBA Jam.

Brian Shaw - February 2016 - Former NBA champion (3 times, with the Lakers) and ex-Nuggets coach Brian Shaw came to India in February 2016 to promote the NBA. During his trip, he tipped off premier NBA events like the ACG-NBA Jump National Finals in Greater Noida, NBA City Finals in Jaipur, and NBA Jam in Mumbai. His most significant contribution was at the ACG-NBA Jump Finals, where he helped choose Palpreet Singh Brar as the competition's winner and India's representative to the NBDL trials.

Joe Courtney - March/April 2016 - Former NBA and global basketball journeyman Joe Courtney came to India in March 2016 to broadcast season 2 of the UBA Basketball League in Hyderabad.

Robin Lopez, Seth Curry - April/May 2016 - Center Robin Lopez and guard Seth Curry - at that time belonging to the New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings - travelled to Noida and Mumbai from April 28 - May 1 to support the continued growth of basketball by conducting youth clinics and interacting with local fans. They engaged with players at Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Elite National Camp and took part in Sony SIX's show 'Around the Hoop'.

Shawn Marion - November/December 2016 - Former NBA champ Shawn Marion came to Mumbai and New Delhi for a five-day trip, where he took part in the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme, chatted with fans live on NBA India's Facebook page, conducted a junior NBA camp at the ITL School in Delhi, and inaugurated the 2016/17 ACG-NBA Jump programme in Mumbai. The obligatory 'Around the Hoop' appearance was made, too.

Alex Scales - February/March 2017 - Scales played one game for the San Antonio Spurs in 2005, and thus qualifies for this list. The 38-year-old shooting guard played in a dozen countries around the world before accepting the invitation to come to India to play for the Mumbai Challengers of the UBA Basketball League Season 4.

Kenneth Faried - May 2017 - Faried, 'The Manimal' of the Denver Nuggets, visited India to promote the NBA playoffs, visit the Taj Mahal, dip Parle G into chai, appear on Sony SIX's "Around the Hoop" show, and meet young fans at the NBA Zone at the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon.

Yao Ming - July 2017 - Chinese basketball legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming arrived on India to watch the 2017 FIBA Asia 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.

Kevin Durant - July 2017 - Reigning champion with the Golden State Warriors, Finals MVP, former MVP, four-time scoring champions, Kevin Durant became definitely the greatest player to set foot on Indian soil,landed in New Delhi. 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). Durant visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, too.

Andre Miller - October 2017 - One of the most-reliable passers of the past few decades, former NBA point guard Andre "The Professor" Miller visited Mumbai and Delhi-NCR from October 27-29, 2017. Miller appeared on the SONY SIX show "Around the Hoop", trained young players at the NBA Academy India, and hosted a coaching session at the Apeejay School in New Delhi.

Michael Ray Richardson - November 2017 - The former All Star, who played in the late 70s and 80s for the Knicks, Suns, and Nets, visited the NBA India Academy in Greater Noida to interact and train the young players. He also went to Mumbai for 'Around the Hoop.

Kevin Martin - January 2018 - The retired shooting guard visited Mumbai, Delhi, and Greater Noida to coach in the Reliance Jr. NBA Programme, the NBA India Academy, and appear on "Around the Hoop" on Sony SIX.

Sam Vincent - April 2018 - NBA journeyman and champion with the '85 Celtics, Sam Vincent came to India for 'The Great Basketball Hunt' in New Delhi.

Brook Lopez -May 2018 - Lopez, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, followed his brother Robin's footsteps to visit India in Spring 2018. He attended the finals of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme as well as the ACG-NBA Jump, both held in early May in the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida. Lopez also visited the Taj Mahal in Agra during his trip, went to Mumbai to watch an IPL game, and showed up on the "Around the Hoop" show on Sony SIX.

Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell, Corey Brewer, Chris LeVert, Darvin Ham - May/June 2018 - The NBA, FIBA, and the BFI came together to host the 2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in India, ten years after it was held last here in New Delhi. This year's camp was in the NBA Academy India in Noida. Olynyk (Heat), Powell (Mavericks), Brewer (Thunder), LeVert (Nets), and former player and current assistant coach Ham (Bucks) were part of the large contingent of NBA/WNBA players/coaches to come to India for the BWB programme. The players and coaches worked with 66 top youth players from across Asia from May 30 - June 2. The players also got a chance to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra during their trip.

Robert Horry - October 2018 - "Big Shot Bob" made his second visit to India prior to the beginning of the 2018-19 NBA season. He worked out with the prospects at the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida and visited Mumbai to appear on NBA broadcast TV shows.

Tim Hardaway - November 2018 - "Senior" Hardaway, the five-time All Star who played for the Warriors, Heat, and more in the 90s, visited India to lead basketball clinics, engage with Indian basketball fans and appear on Sony's NBA wraparound show "Saturday Morning Live."

Rashard Lewis - January 2019 - The first player of New Year 2019 to visit India was Rashard Lewis, star with the Seattle Supersonics and Orlando Magic, and champion with the 2013 Miami Heat. Lewis visited Mumbai and Bengaluru to lead the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programmes.

Harrison Barnes - April/May 2019 - The Sacramento Kings' forward Harrison Barnes was in India in the height of the summer to promote the upcoming 'NBA India Games' later this year, in which his Kings will play against the Indiana Pacers. Barnes fully immersed into the India experience, visiting heritage sites, gobbling up Indian food, playing Cricket, and much more. He spent most of his time between Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, with a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra in between. At the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida, Barnes he worked with finalists of the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA programme and the ACG-NBA Jump.

Yao Ming - June 2019 - The former Houston Rocket, Basketball Hall of Famer, and president of the Chinese Basketball Association, Yao Ming returned to India for the draw ceremony of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, in Bengaluru.