a 10-day contract on Thursday. (Source: Reuters)
Americans are used to seeing Indian brains
dominate Silicon Valley, but to watch 7 ft 5 inches
of Indian-descent brawn stomp on Californian
basketball courts will be something new.
Sim Bhullar, a 22-year-old Canadian basketball
player of Indian origin, Thursday signed a 10-day
contract with the Sacramento Kings, and is set to
become the first player of Indian descent to be on
an NBA team’s regular season roster when the
Kings play New Orleans Pelicans early Saturday
morning (0730 IST).
Kings general manager Pete D’Alessandro
confirmed the development, and triggered a wave
of Twitter enquiries — the hashtag #simsanity
began to trend soon after news broke in the US of a
likely debut at the Kings’ home Sleep Train Centre
arena.
Bhullar, who wears size 22 shoes and has a
wingspan of 8’2”, has had to bide his time after the
Kings’ Indian-origin owner Vivek Ranadive brought
the Toronto teenager to sunny California. Bhullar
donned the jersey of the Reno, Nevada-based Reno
Bighorns in the development league of the NBA,
and has been working on his fitness and game
skills ever since.
Off court, both peers and opponents have been
curious. The first question is nearly always on his
Indian heritage — Bhullar’s parents had moved to
Toronto from their native Punjab before he was
born. The second question is on his towering frame
— and mostly more of a comment. “They’re always
quite shocked to see how tall I am. And then they
say — ‘Indian?’” he says.
While Gursimran — Sim’s full name — has faced
the attention, his mother has had a different set of
problems at their home. “She’s had to change the
height of all the doorways at home a couple of
times. Eventually she settled for eight feet once
Tanveer and I stopped growing,” Sim told The
Indian Express.
Tanveer, Bhullar’s younger brother, is only two
inches shorter at 7’3”, and their elder sister is 6’1”.
Their father is 6’5”, and their mother 5’10”.
Sim took up basketball in school, and earned two
MVP awards playing for New Mexico State
University at the Western Athletic Conference —
which earned him the call to the Sacramento Kings
NBA team. Though he went undrafted initially at the
2014 NBA draft, franchise owner Ranadive decided
to offer the youngster a contract.
With the Kings currently fourth among the five
teams in the Pacific Division — and the 13th among
15 in Western Conference — and out of contention
for the playoffs, Bhullar’s chances of making the
first team are bright.
Although he is a Canadian national, Sim is always
being told about how he will be the first player with
an Indian background to make it big in the NBA.
“I’ve always been the ‘first Indian,’ or the ‘only
Indian’, so it’s something that hasn’t really given
me any new feeling of pressure,” he says.
Followers and well-wishers on social media boost
his confidence: “I keep getting messages on
Twitter and Facebook. It’s a great feeling to see so
many people treat me like a role model,” he adds.
Bhullar says his parents have been waiting to see
him in a Kings jersey ever since he was drafted by
the franchise last year. He has spent more time
away from home on basketball duty, but the way he
leads his life hasn’t changed, Bhullar says.
“I still enjoy spending time with my parents at
home. I still go to the gurdwara every week, and I
speak in Punjabi often,” he says.
Bhullar will have little time at home for the next 10
days, but won’t mind that. “It is the target,” he
says. And with brother Tanveer doing well too, he
may have company in the big league in the coming
years.
“He wants to improve,” Sim says of his 20-year-
old younger brother. “He has been playing well, and
has just won the regular season conference for his
college.”
Should Tanveer too make the ranks, the pair will
set another ‘first Indian origin’ record. But for now,
Sim’s target is to make it to the marquee ranks. He
has often been invited to Sacramento to meet fans.
This time around, he will be in Sacramento for
bigger, better reasons.
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