Indian basketball prospect Khushi Dongre signed to ASA College-Miami of the NJCAA

Another day, another bit of great news considering an Indian hoopers looking abroad as a student-athlete.

The latest to join the list is Khushi Dongre, a 5-foot-10 combo guard originally from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, who has been signed to play for the ASA College-Miami of the NJCAA (junior NCAA) Division 1. In recent years, the 18-year-old Dongre has played for India at the junior international stage and starred at the NBA Academy India's women's programme.

"Over the last couple of months of getting to know Khushi, she is always happy and so grateful for the opportunity to come here and play basketball in the USA," said Kevin Johnson, the head coach of ASA College-Miami Silverstorm team. "The meaning of her name means happiness and she definitely exemplifies happiness in her personality."

Dongre was most recently a part of India's U18 3x3 team that took part in the FIBA U18 Asia 3x3 Championship in Malaysia. Her contributions helped India make an impressive leap in the tournament to finish at 7th place. In the past, Dongre has played for Team India in the FIBA U16 Asia Women's Championship, where the team won Division B in Bengaluru. She participated in the NBA Academy India's women's programme in 2018 and 2019.

"It was such a blessing to be able to bring in a player from the NBA Academies Women's Program because we have the same vision in regards to helping our youth through the game of basketball," Johnson said. "We are so excited to have Khushi on our team and look forward to her bringing a high game IQ, shooting ability and great teamwork to our program."

Dongre will join the list of several other Indian women to make the leap to college basketball in North America, including Kavita Akula, Sanjana Ramesh, Vaishnavi Yadav, and Srishti Suren. According to a report by NBA India, she intends to major in Economics and Sports Management.

Indian software tycoon Vivek Ranadivé joins bid to keep Kings in Sacramento

Vivek Ranadivé – the Indian-born software giant and the owner of billion-dollar software company TIBCO – has joined the team bidding to keep the NBA’s Kings in the city of Sacramento. Ranadivé, who currently owns a share of the California neighbours Golden State Warriors, will join a team led by health-club financier Mark Mastrov and billionaire Ron Burkle.

As you may have already heard, the current owners of the Kings – the Maloof Family – are looking to sell the franchise to its highest bidder, and the highest bidder up to this point seemed to be another tech-inspired group from Seattle, led by Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer and Chris Hansen. If their bid is successful, the Kings would move to the city of Seattle and mark the comeback of the Seattle Supersonics, who moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder back in 2008.

The Kings have been in Sacramento since 1985-86. A few weeks ago, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the only way the franchise could remain in the city after this season was if Sacramento’s bid was as large as the bid from the Seattle group.

Enter Ranadivé: on Thursday March 21, Ranadivé confirmed that he has joined Burkle and Mastrov to become the third major investor in an attempt to purchase the Kings and keep them in Sacramento. Ranadive extended his support to Sacramento Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson via Twitter.

"Looking forward to supporting @KJ_MayorJohnson as we work towards keeping the @SacramentoKings where they belong. #HereWeStay" Ranadivé tweeted. "Excited to be a part of the revitalization of a great community and the globalization of an amazing franchise."

Born in Mumbai, Ranadivé – a graduate from MIT and a post-graduate from Harvard – founded software company TIBCO in 1997 and is the company’s CEO. He has also authored two books: The Power of Now (1999), The Power to Predict (2006), and most recently, The Two-Second Advantage (2011). He became co-owner and vice chairman of the Golden State Warriors in 2010, making him the first person of Indian descent to own an NBA franchise. Ranadivé has helped bring Indian flavour to the Warriors as the team has held ‘Bollywood Night’ annually for the past three seasons.

If Ranadivé’s bid to the buy the Kings is successful, he will have to sell his share with the Warriors.

Ranadivé’s role is yet another interesting twist in the ever-growing drama surrounding the future of the Kings. It is yet unclear why Ranadivé will want to give up his growing legacy with the Warriors, with whom he seems to have been a successful owner for the past three years. He has been able to engage with the Oakland Indian community as well as spread the message of basketball to Indians back home. The Warriors are enjoying their best season in over a decade and currently stand at a comfortable sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

It’s an intriguing tug-of-war between West coast cities and basketball teams. Seattle wants the Supersonics back, and Sacramento wants to keep the Kings. And now, the Indian owner of the Golden State Warriors Warriors now wants to own the Kings in Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins better be worth it.

The NBA’s Board of Governors will make a final decision about the Kings’ possible relocation by mid-April.

Kevin, Kobe, & Kyrie: Special ‘Ks’ leave a mark at the All Star Weekend

Kevin Durant won the All Star MVP Award. Kobe Bryant broke Michael Jordan’s All Star scoring record and had his own nose broken. Kevin Love won the three-point shootout. Kyrie Irving was the best young star amongst a host of young guns at the Rising Stars competition. And a certain ‘King’ James – for his brilliance and for his mistakes – made some headlines in Orlando during the mid-season festivities.

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