Nagpur: India’s prospects in the world's best basketball league got a boost as the Sacramento Kings gave Princepal Singh a berth in their 17-member squad for the third annual California Classic Summer League.
Ahead of the 10-day NBA Summer League, Sacramento will play in the four-team, two-day format double-header match up featuring Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
At 6 feet and 9 inches, the Indian forward is one of the tallest players in the Kings’ squad with Portugal’s Neemias Queta and American forwards Emanuel Terry and Johnathan Williams. Following a season in the G League development program, the Indian basketball star will now compete for an NBA roster spot.
At the California Classic, the Kings will first take on the Golden State Warriors at 5.30 am IST on Wednesday. On Thursday, Singh and the Kings will face the challenge of Los Angeles Lakers.
Looking to create a potential avenue to play in the August 10-17 Las Vegas Summer League, the opportunity with the Kings is a chance for Princepal to put his skills set and improvement on display. If all goes well, India’s biggest basketball star in the US could land an NBA roster or G League roster for the 2021-22 season.
In his first professional season, Princepal appeared in four games with the NBA's Ignite team. The Punjab forward accounted for nine points, four rebounds and one steal in those four appearances.
In an interaction with TOI after his first professional stint with the Ignite, the NBA Academy graduate had said, “I’m not sure whether I will enter the draft this year. But I want to play in the NBA, if not this year, then at least next year.”
The lanky forward added, "I always wanted to play professionally, and getting a chance to do that was my biggest motivation. I wanted to improve and just play more and more games, which kept me going."
