On Friday, June 25, 2015 Satnam Singh Bhamara made history by becoming the first Indian draft in the world’s richest sporting league, the National Basketball Association (NBA) of the USA. The Dallas Mavericks are the NBA franchise he is representing. The 7’2” teenager from Ballo Ke, a tiny hamlet off Ludhiana, was picked by the Mavericks as the 52nd player in the 2015 NBA Draft. The 19-year old’s hoop dreams began ten years from today when his father enrolled him into the Ludhiana Basketball Academy. At that point of time, playing in the NBA was a far-fetched dream but Satnam’s father, Balbir Singh Bhamara, always believed that his son was made to do bigger things in life.

Although the 2015-16 NBA season begins only in October, Satnam has been in the US for the last five years, as a member of the IMG Academy.