Mark Tatum said the country needed to have more world-class infrastructure for basketball for it to have the opportunity to host some games as well as give budding players better facilities to hone their skills
If things go as planned and as per wish, you might soon get to watch some NBA action in India.
Mark Tatum, the deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the NBA, said they are planning to get a pre-season game to India pretty soon, provided they can find an arena that is fit enough to host it.
"There are a couple of arenas in the country which could host a few pre-season games, which is our hope. We want to bring a NBA pre-season game to India," Tatum said here.
"As soon as we can find an arena, and we can get the right circumstances there to bring a game, we're going to be there. It's a high priority for us, to try and bring a pre-season game. (Vivek) Ranadive (Sacramento Kings owner) is excited about it. He wants us to figure it out. So, I can tell you that we're working furiously to try to get a pre-season game in India as soon as possible," he added.
Tatum said the country needed to have more world-class infrastructure for basketball for it to have the opportunity to host some games as well as give budding players better facilities to hone their skills.
"There's opportunity for the infrastructure (to grow) there. The great thing about basketball, though, is that you don't need a lot of space. You can play indoor as well as outdoor. The world-class facilities will be needed more in India to hold games, as well as to be able to give kids better access to facilities," he said.
Tatum, who visited India last month to open the first NBA Academy in the country, said the academy in Noida could just be the right platform to find an Indian basketball star and get the country in the sport's global map.
"India is going to have a very prominent place in the basketball map. It's no accident that we decided to put one of very first academies in India. We had our first 21 of the best players in India. We're going to provide them NBA style coaching, development, training, strength and conditioning and nutritionists.
"We're going to provide all the knowledge that we have learnt in the NBA to these young kids. Hopefully one day, one of them is going to have the opportunity to play right here in the NBA," he said.
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