Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

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Sim Bhullar & Satnam Singh set for historic D-League battle Friday

The NBA's first Indian-born draftee takes on the NBA's first player of Indian descent.

The D-League is set to make a bit of history on Friday when Raptors 905 visit the Texas Legends for an 8 p.m. tipoff.

The game will feature the first ever Indian-born draft pick going head-to-head with the NBA’s first ever player of Indian descent. The fact that they’re both well over 7 feet tall and tip the scales at a combined 650 pounds only adds to the intrigue.

The 905 employ Sim Bhullar, the 7-foot-5, 360-pound Toronto, Ontario, native who became the first player of Indian descent to appear in an NBA game back on April 7, 2015. Bhullar left New Mexico State after two seasons, going undrafted and then spending the bulk of 2014-15 with the Reno Bighorns, the D-League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings. With the season lost late in the year and Kings owner Vivek Randadive hoping to help grow the game of basketball in India, the Kings inked the Huntington Prep product to a 10-day contract on April 2. He would appear in three games, scoring two points with one rebound and one assist in three total minutes.

Bhullar’s parents migrated to Canada from India and didn’t know much about basketball until entrolling Bhullar and his brother Tanveer in youth programs. Born in Toronto and raised in Brampton, Bhullar had a homecoming of sorts this offseason when the Toronto Raptors traded for his D-League rights and rostered him with the 905, based out of Mississauga. While he’s representing well over a billion people of Indian descent worldwide, he’s also representing Canada, the local community, and Mississauga’s well-represented South-Asian population.

“The community’s really shown support,” Bhullar said on a conference call through NBA Asia on Thursday. “They’re really getting out. I’m one of the hometown kids and they’re trying to show support and show love. It’s been huge, especially for me, being back home. It’s been amazing to see all the Indian fans come out in the community, and come out to every game pretty much, and just show support.”

Singh, meanwhile, may have one-upped Bhullar depending on where you place your personal goalposts for cultural milestones. The 7-foot-2, 290-pounder eschewed college altogether and entered the 2015 NBA Draft, getting selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the No. 52 pick. Born in the village of Ballo Ke in Punjab, India, Signh became the first Indian-born player to be drafted and, should he advance to the NBA, would become the first Indian-born player to do so. In the meantime, Singh will develop in Texas, with the Mavericks’ exclusive D-League affiliate.

For both players, development to the point of likely NBA utility remains on a long-term path.

The 20-year-old Singh has played sparingly at the professional or international level, and Texas is working him in slowly, tasking him with just 79 minutes on the season so far. He’s averaging 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds while shooting 38.9 percent, but his rookie campaign can’t really be measured by numbers given the work that’s being put in outside of games. And he’s making progress, with the Legends opting to start him for the first time on Wednesday. He saw a career-high 16 minutes, scoring four points with four rebounds and a block.

For the 23-year-old Bhullar, the start of this season represented a slight step backward to take several forward. Reno played Bhullar 25.8 minutes per-game last season but played a style that dictated Bhullar work only as a rim-protector and defensive rebounder, with the team’s frenetic transition game making it such that Bhullar rarely saw the inside of the opposing team’s 3-point line outside of dead balls. The 905 opted to try to recondition Bhullar from scratch, and while that meant far less playing time initially, the goal is to build the best possible long-term prospect.

The return for Bhullar are encouraging, too. The team initially didn’t even have Bhullar traveling with them and he was often a DNP-CD, even at home. Since the holiday break, he’s been a fixture in the rotation, even starting the team’s last six games. He’s averaging 7.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 16.1 minutes while shooting 70.5 percent from the floor, an the 905 have outscored opponents by 12.7 points per-100 possessions with Bhullar on the court. In five games as a starter, he’s playing even better, averaging 12.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in helping lead the 905 to a 4-1 record over that stretch.

When the pair meet up Friday, Bhullar should appear more advanced, because he is. He’s also three years older with the benefit of college and D-League seasoning, though who is better is hardly the point. For the first time, two players of Indian descent will square off in D-League action, an important moment for the continued development of the sport.

“I think it’s huge for the game of basketball in India,” Bhullar said. “I think having a couple of players play at that level is huge for the growth there. Over the last couple of years, it’s been growing over there. They’ve got more and more kids playing, more people coaching. It’s definitely going in the right direction but at the same time we’ve still got a long way to go. Hopefully in the next couple years, you’re gonna see a lot more players coming up in the ranks and playing professionally.”

Bhullar’s right that their presence could be huge. He knows from the Canadian side, too, how an increased presence of national talent at the pro level can help foster growth and build momentum in a national program. India does have some talent in the pipeline, too, even if they’re not yet registering on the draft radar. Nineteen-year-old 7-footer Akashdeep Harza, for example, has already progressed to playing for the national team.

Friday’s game isn’t really about who’s next, though. It’s about who’s here, and the veritable millions they could help inspire to pick up a basketball.