Kings sign Sim Bhullar, NBA's 1st player of Indian descent
The NBA has its first-ever player of Indian descent.
The Sacramento Kings have signed 7-foot-5, 360-pound center Sim Bhullar to a 10-day contract.
The 22-year-old Bhullar was born in Toronto, Ontario after his parents migrated from India. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is the league's first Indian-born owner and has been clear that he wants to grow the team and league's presence in his native country, an end Bhullar will surely help with.
The news was first reported by ESPN on Wednesday, with NBA India getting the jump on the official signing Thursday:
Breaking: NBA's @SacramentoKings just signed the first ever player of Indian descent, the 7"5' defensive-machine, @SimBhullar2! #simsanity
— NBAIndia (@NBAIndia) April 2, 2015
Bhullar had originally been signed by the Kings in the summer after he went undrafted as a freshman out of New Mexico State, where his 7-foot-3 brother Tanveer still plays. He was subsequently waived before the season, landing with the Reno Bighorns of the D-League as a Kings affiliate player.
While there, Bhullar spent the early part of the season on the bench working himself into better shape and trimming an undisclosed amount of weight. Since cracking the rotation, he's benefited from the team's unique and stat-padding style of play, even recording triple-doubles.
How the Kings will use Bhullar remains unclear, though he could stand to see serious playing time if the Kings shut DeMarcus Cousins down as anticipated. Head coach George Karl may have to do some serious video work to figure out how best to utilize the 7-foot-5 behemoth, with whom he's not too familiar, even though Bhullar plays with Karl's son in Reno.
George Karl admitted he knows little about Sim Bhullar, knew Coby Karl had a triple double with the Bighorns last night.
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) April 1, 2015
Conditioning has been the major knock on Bhullar, and he was unimpressive in four Summer League games, scoring two points with two rebounds and a block in 10 minutes. Whether due to the competition unable to match his size or improvement in his game and conditioning, Bhullar has put up terrific D-League numbers - averaging 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.9 blocks in 25.8 minutes while shooting 72.7 percent from the floor.
Given his size, Bhullar can't be considered anything but a potential NBA player. Even if the signing may be more about his heritage right now, Bhullar has a very clear path to an NBA career. The ceiling for such a career may be as a short-minute reserve big, but it's still worth investing in for the Kings.
This should be a lot of fun, and it's a great day for the growth of the game.