National Basketball Association

Bhullar becomes first person of Indian descent to play NBA game

Published Apr. 8, 2015 1:07 a.m. ET

foxsports

Sacramento Kings backup center Sim Bhullar made history Tuesday night when he became the first player of Indian descent to play in an NBA game.

Bhullar, who was born in Ontario, Canada and played in college at New Mexico State, checked in with 16.1 seconds remaining in the Kings' 116-111 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A crowd of 16,770 gave the 7-foot-5 Bhullar a standing ovation when he replaced Jason Thompson and lined up along the key while teammate Ray McCallum took the second of two free throw attempts.

Signed to a 10-day contract on April 2, Bhullar did not attempt a shot; the only statistic the 22-year-old did record was a minus-2 when Andrew Wiggins made the game's final basket with two seconds to play.