Yao Ming 9

Take me away from the gloss and glamour of the world’s finest arenas. From the sleek wooden floor with the fancy logos and the fiber-glass backboards with rims made out of the expensive nylon. It’s all too much for me. Take me away from referees, matching uniforms, and electronic scoreboards. Just give me a ball, […]

NBA fans know Yao Ming as the Hall of Famer who played seven seasons for the Houston Rockets, before injuries cut his career short. But his face is a familiar sight amongst the internet generation: a black-and-white caricature of Yao wearing a hearty smile. How did that happen? A glimpse into the shallow but complex […]

The Present. Dressed in a dapper, dark blue single-breasted suit, Satnam Singh Bhamara sat anxiously on the crowded floor of the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. A single Thursday evening in late June had the potential to change the 19-year-old’s life forever, and forever make history for Indian Basketball and the NBA. But nothing […]

As always, the women’s final was held first, a little bit earlier in the evening, before the prime-time crowds were expected to show up. Only a few of the other players, close friends, and some of the organizing officials sat through most of the game; looking around the arena, there were far more empty seats […]

[Originally published on NBA.COM, as part of its ‘Local Heroes’ series, around December 2016.] “What makes you a great player? Is it the vicious dunks? The haircut? The shoes? The long shorts? The short socks? It’s gotta be the shoes!” So went a famous 1991 commercial where filmmaker (and over enthusiastic Knicks superfan) Spike Lee tries […]