Sim Bhullar scored the first NBA basket ever made by a player of Indian descent the other night. It’s remarkable–and it’s not. While hoops is not as hot in India as in China, the whole Far East knows LeBron James’s name now. The whole world does, in fact, because the NBA has been tireless in promoting basketball outside the US. It’s a truly global game now. When the current season started, the NBA had 101 players from 37 countries and territories outside the US. More than half the roster–7 players–on the last year’s NBA champion San Antonio Spurs were born outside the US.
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The 7’5″ Sim Bhullar was born in Canada to parents who emigrated from Punjab, India. He scored his groundbreaking basket for the Sacramento Kings, representing the capital city of California. Jeremy Lin, a native Californian who was the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, congratulated the big man with Indian roots.
Congrats @SimBhullar2 on making NBA history last night!! #trailblazer
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) April 8, 2015
