What did you dream of being as a child? Did you picture yourself on the stage, under the hot glare of a spotlight or shooting through the sky, glancing back at a shrinking Earth as you make your way to the moon? Millions of kids today stare up at their posters of Michael Jordan or watch Caitlin Clark dominate the court on their TVs and picture themselves in their basketball shoes. Everyone envisions sinking the perfect three-pointer — until someone tells them they can't and never will.

It’s difficult to pinpoint when exactly these ambitions wither into wild fantasies. For some of us, it might have been when we were nudged towards a more ‘realistic,’ financially secure path. For others, hope might have dwindled when they realised none of their role models shared the same background as them. As Indians, we understand this feeling better than anyone. From the invasive questions posed by relatives to the way we’re depicted in mainstream, global media, the stereotype of “doctor, lawyer, or engineer” is pervasive within our personal lives and the narratives framed around us. When the world tells us what we can and can’t be, ‘reality’ becomes a cold wake-up call rather than something we can build for ourselves.

The Brown Ballers

Gautam Kapur, founder of ‘Brown Ballers’, refuses to let this narrative confine South Asians any longer. Like millions of other young brown kids across the globe, Kapur fell in love with basketball at a young age. It’s an easy sport to love; all you need is a hoop to start playing, and, of course, everyone loves the cool shoes and inspiring stories found in the lives of every major player. Yet, as Kapur quickly realised, there is little to no brown representation in professional basketball. Despite comprising 25% of the world’s population, Indian players in the NBA and other top global leagues are few and far between.

While Kapur’s passion for basketball didn’t bring him to the courts, it did inspire him to change the landscape for up-and-coming South Asian players today. Brown Ballers, formerly known as India Rising, is a team born out of the desire to disprove the stereotypes surrounding Indian athletes. Formed in 2022, the team recruited the best Indian-origin players from around the world to compete in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) for a million-dollar prize. 

TBT is an annual open-invitation tournament typically consisting of 64 teams. When laymen think of American basketball, the world’s most competitive league, the NBA, comes to mind. However, every summer since its inception in 2014, TBT has offered other professional and non-professional players the world stage by airing on major sports networks. For its first 10 years, TBT aired on ESPN, but after a decade of growth in viewership and competitiveness, it will be moving to Fox and its sister network Fox Sports 1. In the NBA off-season, basketball fans can channel their enthusiasm into TBT, allowing teams like India Rising to catch hundreds of thousands of viewers’ attention.  

Unlike the Indian national team, which only recruits Indian passport holders, India Rising made use of our immense diasporic talent. Their backgrounds defied all stereotypes — from current professional players to doctors, engineers, and MBA students, India Rising’s roster encompassed the complexity of the Indian experience. “It’s nonsense that South Asians are still told, either directly or indirectly, that sports, or basketball, specifically, are not for them,” asserts Kapur. 

Rising From The Ashes

India Rising’s high expectations, with the weight of Indian representation and a host of firsts on the team’s shoulders, made their tragic loss in their debut game all the more painful. In the first round of the TBT 2022, India Rising lost by 28 points to reigning champions Boeheim’s Army. The team’s momentum was thwarted before they could show their abilities to the world. After just one game, India Rising’s journey in the tournament was over. However, what could have been a historic loss, not just for India Rising but for South Asian basketballers everywhere, turned out to be the beginning of a burgeoning movement. After all, persistence is part of the Indian spirit. We’re not ones to give up so easily. 

‘Hoop Like This’ is a documentary that takes us through Brown Ballers’ formation, defeat, and eventual rise from the ashes. The documentary film is executive produced by HRTGE, a global artist management & media company dedicated to supporting South Asian artists & creatives; the company’s founder, Akhil Hegde will also serve as an Executive Producer. Directed by Shubhangi Shekar, ‘Hoop Like This’ brings to light an Indian basketball culture that is often overlooked and considers how Brown Ballers could revolutionise opportunities for South Asians, within basketball and beyond. The documentary follows Kapur and his team as they reinvent India Rising after their devastating 2022 TBT loss. From globetrotting to recruit new players to hiring new coaches and building chemistry, the team’s tumultuous, yet inspiring story is a testament to Indian players’ dedication to the game.  

An Untold History  

Throughout the documentary, sports journalist and founder of the basketball-centred media platform Ekalavyas Gopalakrishnan R repeatedly states, “Basketball is an Indian sport.” I was fascinated by this insistence; when we consider quintessentially Indian sports, sports where we professionally dominate, like cricket and kabaddi, come to mind. When asked to elaborate, Gopal clarified that our limited understanding of basketball is, at least in part, due to an overemphasis on the NBA. While Indian players aren’t being drafted for major American teams, basketball has been played in India for over a hundred years. “Most schools, apartment complexes, or even smaller towns have at least basic outdoor basketball courts,” Gopal explains. 

The middle section of ‘Hoop Like This’ is an ode to India’s rich basketball history, taking us on a tour from the historic Devanga court to a wheelchair basketball game and the India Rising tryouts in Delhi. Brown Ballers’ mission, to prove South Asian basketball players’ worth, feels even more pertinent considering our undeniable passion for basketball. The average person, myself included, assumes that Indians’ exclusion from major basketball has been due to a lack of interest and talent. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated than that. 

“The talent is not the problem. The infrastructure is nowhere where it should be. The system isn't designed to help Indian players succeed,” Kapur states. Indian players have limited opportunities to make a living from playing professionally. When they do get the chance to play for a living, most Indian players, hailing from rural backgrounds, take the job as an opportunity to gain a secure government job. This leads to what Gopal describes as a “psychological ceiling”, as they “become satisfied with being among the best in India, without ever aiming to become the best in the world.” The issue here isn’t with the Indian players themselves but with how India undervalues its basketball teams. Even our national team, the best we have to offer as a country, is limited in its capacities because of the unconventional insistence that all players hold Indian passports. Players recruited out of India and the diaspora also face a slew of other barriers to entry, starting with racial profiling and discrimination.

On a global level, South Asian players are overlooked due to being stereotyped as unathletic. More nefariously, we also see this bias on a systemic level, such as when the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) banned religious head coverings, preventing Sikh and Muslim players from playing. One player in India Rising’s 2023 lineup even noted that his brother, who also played professionally, quit the sport when he was told he couldn’t wear his turban on the court. Though the ban has now been lifted, thanks to the efforts of American basketball player Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, the fact that it existed at all is a telling sign of the discrimination prevalent in the world of professional basketball. 

Reclaiming Our Dreams

Brown Ballers is forging a way forward, not just for Indian basketball but South Asian athletes at large. Their platform and opportunities for South Asian-origin basketball players show the world the potential our athletes have. As Kapur notes, Brown Ballers is also “more than just a summer project.” The organisation is developing South Asian athletes through camps, showcases, and by spotlighting emerging players on their online platforms year-round. 

Of course, representation is not the only change we need. As Gopal notes, “We need to incentivise and streamline school and college competitions because these come with built-in fan bases and local community support.” This gives you a bottom-up approach to help players navigate success. But Brown Ballers’ efforts and the very existence of ‘Hoop Like This’ are the signs of a shift, the bright beginnings of a change in how people view South Asians. It’s us breaking free from the box we’ve been restricted to by the world and by ourselves. 

Though we still have far to go, Brown Ballers is showing us that our dreams don’t have to be tossed aside. Our reality isn’t moulded by what we’re told we can and can’t be. Our imaginations, and more importantly, our efforts, pave the way for the next generation’s dreams to come true. Even if it takes years, a future where kids have South Asian athletes plastered on their walls is within our reach. We don’t need to imagine a South Asian version of Diana Taurasi or Stephen Curry. Instead, we have to believe and invest in ourselves and the immense talent we’ve already proven we have. 

Learn More About ‘Hoop Like This’ here.

Follow Brown Ballers here.

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