Ball in India’s court

Deepankar Sharda

Basketball is unlikely to figure among India’s top-10 popular sports. Maybe, it will struggle to find a spot even in the top-20 list. That, surprisingly, seems no dampener for America’s famed National Basketball Association (NBA) — the organisers of one of the most lucrative and glamorous leagues came calling to India with two pre-season games between Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings, held in Mumbai a week back.

For Indian basketball and its followers, it was a huge moment, maybe the watershed point, depending on what those tasked with the development of the sport do going forward from here. That it took NBA and Reliance five years to organise these two games here indicate the difficulty quotient of the proposition.

As one would expect, the first hurdle in the way was the lack of required infrastructure to host the games. From scoreboards to wooden flooring, NBA imported practically the entire stadium for the two games. At the end of the show, though, everyone concerned seemed more than satisfied. “We had to bring everything from basic material to professionals for conducting these matches. Even the arena was small compared to the NBA standards,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver during the first game in Mumbai. “For any sport to succeed, infrastructure is required.  We are at it now, it’s just a matter of time for India...,” he said, hinting at the good days that await Indian basketball not too far away in the future. 

Wondering what has warmed up NBA to Indian basketball, a laggard on international stage? Well, it’s essentially not the sport, but the massive sporting market that India offers that’s behind NBA’s newfound love for Indian basketball. The games are being seen as NBA’s investment in India, similar to their investment in China at the turn of the century. NBA started bringing games to China in 2004. Much before the games were hosted there, NBA had arranged for the telecast of the league matches on China’s state-run television network. All NBA games were shown live since 1994, and now basketball is China’s mainstream sport, managed and overseen by the legendary Yao Ming, NBA’s Hall of Fame player. In 2015, NBA and Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate, struck a deal reportedly worth $500 million, and another one with Weibo.

Silver obviously wants to replicate the winning formula in India as well, as was evident from his utterance during the games. “Shortly before I became the NBA commissioner, we began our relationship with the Reliance Foundation. The aim was to reach three million young people; the number has exceeded 10 million. Besides, almost 100 million people in India watch some portion of NBA,” he said. 

His enthusiasm aside, the challenges in pulling Indian basketball up to the world standards won’t be easy to deal with. For instance, the indoor complexes lack proper ventilation provision, open courts lack basic facilities, there are only a handful of arenas to organise championships or attract players, and India is currently placed 74th in the FIBA rankings.

NBA-Reliance partnership 

NBA has chosen Reliance Foundation as its India partner. The sport, without a doubt, is going to witness many changes in the next 10 years. “It took us time to settle down in China. We had to wait, fans waited too, but it’s amazing today. India, too, has good players and if all goes well, the next 10-15 years would be amazing for India’s basketball,” said Herbert Simon, owner of Indiana Pacers. Vivek Ranadive, India-born Sacramento Kings’ owner, who is said to be the man behind bringing these games here, is equally optimistic and enthusiastic about what the future holds for Indian basketball. “When I first came into NBA, Silver promised me that one day we would have a game in India with the Kings, I am glad and grateful that he’s come through with that promise,” Ranadive said. “There is nothing like watching live NBA action. Basketball in India is surely in demand, over eight million boys and girls have participated in junior NBA camps.” In May 2017, NBA launched The NBA Academy, India, in the National Capital Region (NCR). As many as 22 elite male prospects, who were selected following a three-month long nationwide talent search, are training at the academy. Besides, the first NBA Basketball School was launched in Mumbai, while the Reliance Foundation Junior NBA programme was launched in 2013.

Make it count

It took five years for NBA to bring these two games to India. Now, the focus would be on what do the government agencies concerned and the Basketball Federation of India do to make it count. Chander Mukhi Sharma, BFI general secretary, said the NBA matches will go a long way in developing the sport in India. “We need to improve our development programme before planning for any big moves. With NBA’s interest in India, many more will be interested in the sport and we will be able to find good players,” said Sharma. BFI is also planning to come up with eight academies under Khelo India scheme at Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru, Rajasthan and maybe in Punjab as well.