India has potential to become a continental basketball powerhouse, feel NBA players Seth Curry and Robin Lopez, the latest to visit the country as ambassadors of the game. The duo had a whirlwind tour of desi basketball and sports culture from cricket hysteria, touristy snaps and selfies to court time with some of the best young talent in the country
The fact that it didn’t make headlines is probably the biggest headline. By now news of NBA and WNBA players, past and present, coming over to India every summer isn’t a huge deal. It all started with a Kevin Garnett visit back in 2006, followed by some 50 others since then, an illustrious list that includes Pau Gasol, Isaiah Thomas, Chris Bosh, Kyle Korver, George Gerwin, Swin Cash and Tamika Catchings.
The NBA has always used the off-season to send its talent all over the world like modern-day missionaries to spread the gospel of the league through its various initiatives. Describing the phenomenon, Robin Lopez, a 28-year-old seven-foot centre with the New York Knicks, said, “It’s a very grassroots thing to work with a lot of kids. No matter where we go, we try to instil in them as much of basketball as possible. To instil a love of sports early on in their lives. I think that’s what we would really like to do here [India] or anywhere.”
Lopez, and fellow NBA player Seth Curry, 25, a guard with the Sacramento Kings, were on the Indian trail from April 28 to May 1. They travelled to Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, for the Reliance Junior NBA Elite National Camp, visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, and, in Mumbai, appeared on Sony Six’s NBA game-time show, Around the Hoop, as well as on the hugely popular IPL Extraaa Innings cricket talk-show.
The two have also been binging on street food (“Lots of samosas. Also, ragda pattis, vada paao”) and getting first-hand experience of the “crazy traffic”.
Denne historien er fra June - July 2016-utgaven av Sports Illustrated India.
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Denne historien er fra June - July 2016-utgaven av Sports Illustrated India.
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