Indian prospect Jagshaanbir Singh Jhawar gets scholarship to play at Golden State Prep in the USA

Two years ago, young Jagshaanbir Singh Jhawar was in the first class of prospects selected by the NBA Academy India, joining a group of two dozen young players that took a risk into the unknown, into something that had never been done before, with the hope of unlocking a bright future with their basketball skills.

This week, Jhawar has officially become the first of the group to unlock that dream.

After two years of honing his skills at the NBA Academy in Greater Noida, the 19-year-old, 6-foot-10 big man from Jalandhar has been offered a scholarship to play for Golden State Prep (GSP) in Napa Valley, north of San Francisco and the home of the Golden State Warriors in California. He will join GSP's post-graduate programme starting next month.

Jhawar represented India's U18 squad at the FIBA U18 Asia Championship last year, where he averaged 1.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg in a backup role. He was also part of the NBA's Asia Pacific Camp held in China in 2017.

"This programme will be a new challenge, and I'm positive that at the Golden State Prep I will hone my skills further," said Jhawar. "I would like to thank the team that at the NBA Academy India that contributed to my growth and prepared me to take this next step forward."

"We are excited to have a player of Jagshaanbir's calibre joining our programme," said GSP's founder Jeremy Russotti. "We are certain that his on-court abilities coupled with his reading of the game will make him an ideal candidate of our team."

In her excellent, long profile of Jhawar and his father Tejinder Pal Singh, Shivani Naik noted how the young man who grew up idolising Tim Duncan has added many of the former NBA star's skills to his game, both on-court, and his humility off of it.

Jhawar has already developed a physical low-post game on both sides of the floor. Hopefully, the experience of playing alongside other high-ranked young players with GSP will hone his skills further and prepare to him to unlock the next level, the next dream.