Sim Bhullar has signed a 10-day contract with National Basketball Association (NBA) team Sacramento Kings, the team announced on Thursday. Bhullar is the first person of Indian descent to be part of an NBA team’s regular roster of players.
The 21-year-old born in Toronto, Canada, became the first Indian-origin player to join an NBA team when he signed a contract with the Kings on August 15, 2014. He was part of the squad which won the 2014 NBA Summer League title in Las Vegas.
Standing at 7 feet and five inches and weighing 360 pounds, Bhullar had a good outing with the Kings’ D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns.
On February 26 this year, Bhullar made a guest appearance ‘The Late Late Show’ with guest host Kunal Nayyar of ‘The Big Bang Theory’. He was the first NBA D-League player to do so.
In two seasons with New Mexico State University, Bhullar won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament MVP award as his school reached the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2014. He was also the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
Bhullar’s parents are originally from Punjab and his younger brother Tanveer also plays college basketball at New Mexico State and hopes to join the NBA soon.
He had earlier said that given his size he did not expect to be involved in basketball for a long time. So he hoped to make use of whatever opportunity that came his way.
“Guys my size don’t have very long careers and you have to take advantage of it and do the best you can with the time you have to play,” Bhullar was quoted as saying in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
“I didn’t want to get hurt in another college season and ruin my chances. And I’m not the kind of guy that’s doing it just to make money right away, I just want to play at the highest level,” he said.
(With inputs for IANS)
