Sacramento Kings star promotes basketball.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas has returned from his visit to India, during which he set a number of precedents as part of an ongoing effort by both the Kings and the National Basketball Association (NBA) to develop more of an active interest in professional basketball within India.
During his time in India, Thomas visited Mumbai and Chennai. He participated in radio events, hosted basketball clinics for children in both cities, and also provided commentary on channel Sony SIX during the NBA Finals, which ended on Sunday night after the San Antonio Spurs defeated the two-time champions Miami Heat in five games.
Thomas also hosted a live Google Hangout, in which he interacted with fans all across India in what was considered a landmark event for the sport of basketball. He also paid a visit to the NBA’s new store in Mumbai, which is the first of its kind that the league has opened on the subcontinent.
For the Kings, Thomas’ trip is slightly more meaningful, as Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is the NBA’s first-ever team owner of Indian descent. Ranadive has spoken extensively about his intention to grow the NBA’s fan-base in India, something he re-iterated on the event of Thomas’ voyage to India.
“One of the key aspects of my NBA 3.0 vision is deepening the global imprint of basketball and India is a prime example of this,” said Ranadive, in a statement. “Basketball is rapidly becoming one of India’s most popular sports, second only to cricket, and interest in the game is expanding every day. I also have no doubt that India will one day become a hotbed of NBA-caliber talent.â€
Thomas, who was drafted by the Kings in the 2011 NBA Draft, is not the first player to visit India: Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers), Dwight Howard (Houston Rockets), and Chris Bosh (Miami Heat) have all visited India to help spread awareness of the game and the NBA in particular.