Sim Bhullar - first person of Indian origin to play in the NBA - has signed with Taiwanese team Dacin Tigers

One and a half years ago, Canadian basketball player Sim Bhullar made history for the desi community worldwide as the Sacramento Kings gave him a chance to become the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA. During his short, 10-day contract with the Kings (owned by India-born Vivek Ranadive), Bhullar played just three minutes in three games and scored one basket. But in his brief moment in the sun, the 7-foot-5 talent from New Mexico State University had done enough to scribble his name in the pantheon of Indian basketball players around the world.

Now, Bhullar, who last played his trade for his hometown NBA D-League squad Raptors 905, has taken a bold new career step, away from the spotlight of North America. Earlier this week, it was announced that Bhullar has signed with the Taiwanese basketball team Dacin Tigers, who are one of the strongest teams in Taiwan's top tier Super Basketball League (SBL). Bhullar will become the tallest player ever in the SBL.

Bhullar's decision to play in Taiwan may be financially motivated, suggested Blake Murphy on the Raptors Republic blog. The D-League salaries are low, and playing in Asia may give Bhullar more chance to earn and also become a centerpiece for the team. But the risk remains that this move may hurt his visibility and potential return to play in the NBDL or the NBA.

Apart from his extremely brief NBA stint, the big man had spent the rest of his two-year professional basketball career after leaving New Mexico State in the NBA D-League, playing with the Reno Bighorns and Raptors 905. Although he started slow, he showed considerable improvement for 905 in his last few months with the team, eventually finishing with averages of 9.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, and 1.3 bpg at the end of the 2015-16 season.

The Dacin Tigers finished the 2015-16 SBL season at third place with a 18-12 record. They won their only SBL title in 2009.

Bhullar, the son of Punjabi immigrants to Canada, remains closely tied to his Indian roots, and took a high-profile trip back to India last year with the NBA to promote basketball in the country. He will become the first player of Indian-origin to play in the SBL.

Sim Bhullar - first Indian-origin player in the NBA - traded to hometown Raptors 905 of D-League

Earlier this year, soon after becoming the first Indian-origin player to play in the NBA, Canadian seven-footer Sim Bhullar made a high-profile trip to his parents homeland, India, to promote the sport of basketball. Now, he is taking another trip homewards - this time to the city that truly honed him: Toronto.

Bhullar has been traded by the Sacramento Kings' affiliate NBA D-League team Reno Bighorns - where he played most of last season - to his hometown Toronto Raptors 905, who the D-League affiliate of the NBA's Toronto Raptors. Reno acquired guard Ricky Ledo in return for Bhullar from Toronto.

Bhullar spent most of last season in Reno, where he improved month by month and eventually finished the season with averages of 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, and D-League leading 3.87 blocks per game. The 7-foot-5 giant's performances (and of course, the potential of inspiring the Indian market) helped him earn a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings. He made his debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves towards the end of the 2014-15 NBA season, and made history on the way by becoming the first player of Indian-origin to play in an NBA game.

Bhullar, a Toronto native who also played for Canada's national team at the Pan-Am games, will bring additional excitement to home fans in Toronto as he plays for the 905 for the coming season. Hopefully his performances are able to earn him a return spot to the NBA with the Toronto Raptors.

The Birth of Mahatma Grande

After years of climbing up the ranks, from High School to College to the D-League, 7-5 Canadian giant Sim Bhullar finally saw his NBA dream becoming a reality: he was signed to a 10-day contract by the Sacramento Kings last week and made his first appearance in 16.1 seconds of action against the Timberwolves last night. It was a nice moment that a only a handful of basketball players ever get to experience: the feeling of putting on an NBA jersey, stepping on an NBA court, and finding his name permanently enshrined in the box scores of NBA history.

But of course, you know the story by now, and you know why Bhullar's 16.1 seconds were more significant than most others. With one small step on court, Bhullar took a giant leap for desis worldwide, becoming the first player of Indian-origin to ever play in the NBA. Unlike the usual hungama and tamasha that we Indians like to associate with most of our accomplishments, Bhullar's appearance was largely subdued. His entire debut was only a shade longer than the maximum length of an Instagram video. He touched the ball just once (inbounding it to a teammate), and finished with a box-score of ducks 0-0-0-0-0. A day later, Bhullar scored his first two points in one and half minutes of action in the Kings loss to Utah. And with these humble beginnings, another NBA barrier was broken and a giant was born.

Bhullar's status has soared in recent days, too, with strong performances in the D-League to provide him his foundation and the Kings' contract taking his popularity through the roof. Basketball-loving Indians from India, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and in every nation on every continent on the globe who have long dreamt of the day that one of their own – a desi – would achieve the highest benchmark of the hoop dream and play in the NBA, and in Bhullar, they finally saw that dream achieve reality.

Of course, there is a shade of cynicism amid the optimism, too. The Kings are owned by the NBA's only Indian-born owner, Vivek Ranadive, and thus it has no surprise that the franchise chased him after the draft, assigned him to their affiliate D-League team, and signed him for the NBA (after their own playoff hopes were finished) just in time for the annual Sikh Community Appreciate Night. There have also been voices, such as the excellent Amar on SLC Dunk, who say that the NBA has overstated Bhullar's Indian connection to reach out to the billion-strong population in India instead of focusing on his Canadian basketball roots. It will be up to him to prove that he can be a useful NBA contributor and more than just a publicity stunt - and I believe that he has the skill-set and potential to continue proving his doubters wrong.

Nothing can take away Bhullar's achievements, as he gave his blood, sweat, and tears to the game and made the most of his combination of talent and size to realize his individual hoop dream. The son of Punjabi immigrants to Canada has now played and scored in the NBA. Many more players of Indian-descent - and hopefully of Indian citizenship - will do it after him, but he will always be the first. That first moment on court lasted just 16 seconds, but that's 16 seconds more than you, me, or any other player with some Indian in his blood-stream has ever played.

So let's celebrate the big man's milestone and feast on some butter chicken (like I ever needed an excuse to do that!). Let's get down with the Sikh-Ness! Let's celebrate the birth of Mahatma Grande, the greatest nickname that the giant Canadian-Indian could have possibly asked for (word to @scottostler). Sim Bhullar has finally broken the desi-NBA barrier; hopefully he can inspire many more to follow in his footsteps and bring a lot more masala to our favourite basketball association.

Sacramento Kings cut Sim Bhullar - so where does the Indo-Canadian big man go now?

Sim Bhullar's last official moment with the Sacramento Kings was also his sweetest. After barely getting any action to showcase his skills in the Kings' first few preseason games, Bhullar - the first player of Indian-descent to be sign an NBA contract - was given some burn at the end of Sacramento's exhibition contest against Israeli squad Maccabi Haifa a few days ago. The Kings were already up by 30 points when Bhullar received a pass from Ray McCallum, pivoted in, and dropped an easy finger roll for his first two NBA preseason points. His basket drew the biggest cheer of the night and he was mobbed by many of his Kings' teammates in celebration. Later, Bhullar posted a photograph of his teammates celebrating the basket with him on his Instagram account with the caption 'Blessed'.

Blessed 🙏

A photo posted by Sim Bhullar (@simbhullar32) on Oct 10, 2014 at 12:06am PDT

Yes indeed, the Canada born Bhullar - a 7-foot-5 son of Punjabi parents - has been quite blessed. His hard work and hustle took him further than any desi ever before: to an (plus-plus-plus-size) official NBA jersey. Bhullar attended training camp with the Kings, took part in the preseason, travelled to China, scored a couple of points, and seemed to have made some good relationships within the team.

Alas, immediately after the game, it was announced that the 21-year-old's NBA dream was going to get a rude awakening. To cut their roster down to an NBA maximum 15 players, Bhullar was among three players waived by the Kings on Sunday night, along with Deonte Burton and David Wear. Bhullar immediately became an unrestricted free agent.

The decision to cut Bhullar wasn't wholly surprising: the undrafted big man was signed by the Kings and given a chance to prove himself as a backup to DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings happened to be owned by Vivek Ranadive, the first and only Indian owner of an NBA team. Ranadive has had great hopes in Bhullar's potential, particularly in the cultural impact the big man could have on new NBA fans in the growing Indian market. Unfortunately, no amount of 'Indianness' was going to make Bhullar a better player. The NBA is the toughest, most competitive basketball league in the world, where only the best of the best survive. Doubters believed that Bhullar was signed more for business reasons than for basketball. Unfortunately, with limited chance to prove himself in the preseason, Bhullar couldn't prove that his skillset was worth counting on. In the end, the Kings made it clear that cutting Bhullar from their final roster was a decision based on basketball, rather than business.

Fortunately, all is not lost for the big man. Sources close to Kings' beat writer James Ham and HoopsHype Canada both claim that Bhullar's career is far from over. The next step, it seems, is the NBA's D-League, and an opportunity with the Kings' affiliate squad Reno Bighorns.

“It’s always been part of the plan. He will join their D-league affiliate in Reno in two weeks," cited the HoopsHype Canada source. "They’ll be making sure he cuts weight and gets in better shape. Sim just needs to focus now and use the D league to develop."

The D-League seems like a more obvious destination for Bhullar for basketball reasons as it will give him a chance to further get into the desired NBA shape and earn more playing time to prove himself. Unfortunately for him, the Bighorns are known to have one of the most fast-paced teams in the D-League, and Bhullar isn't exactly suited for a run-and-gun full-court offense yet. Hopefully, he'll be able to find his fit, prove that he can dominate the D-League level, and earn the NBA call-up back to the Kings when the time is right.

When he was Beijing for the 'China Games' last week with the Kings, Bhullar told me that he can eventually help break a racial barrier and change the perception of Indians in the world of professional athletes. Despite his first cut from the Kings, it seems that he his still on track to doing just that - after all, he could still be the first player of Indian-descent in the D-League as well.

As for the NBA dreams - here's hoping that the sweet finger roll against Maccabi was just the first step and the Indo-Canadian has many more NBA points (and minutes, and rebounds, and blocks) scripted in his future.