The Sacramento Kings signed Sim Bhullar to a 10-day contract last week, but he still hadn’t played in an actual game. Until tonight that is.
Before the game on Tuesday night, head coach George Karl said that Bhullar should get some playing time.
Karl said Sim Bhullar should get some minutes tonight
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) April 8, 2015
Technically, Karl was wrong. Bhullar didn’t play “minutes,” but rather seconds. Bhullar checked in with just 16.1 seconds remaining in the game. Bhullar did not record any stats in his short run of playing time. In fact, all he had time to do was inbound the ball.
Nevertheless, this was a milestone not only in Bhullar’s career, but in NBA history. Bhullar became the first player of Indian descent to ever play in the NBA.
Hopefully, Sim Bhullar can serve as a trail blazer for others like him. If others follow Bhullar’s suit, the NBA can become an even more diverse league than it already is.
Bhullar was born in Toronto, Canada, and played college ball for New Mexico State. Sim Bhullar is an enormous human, standing at 7’5″ and weighing in at 360 pounds. Along with being the only Indian player in the NBA, Bhullar’s freakish 8’2″ wingspan is the longest in the NBA, making second-longest Rudy Gobert’s 7’9″ wingspan pale in comparison.
