Sacramento Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas believes India needs a path-breaking player like China's former NBA star Yao Ming to fuel the growth of basketball in the country.
While Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and former NBA commissioner David Stern expects an Indian playing in the sport's premier league in the next five years, Thomas feels there cannot be a timeframe for a prospect like that.
"You never know from where your superstar is going to come from. But it would do a lot of good to Indian basketball if the country has a player in the NBA. Look how the presence of Yao Ming in NBA helped the sport in China," Thomas, who is on a 10-day promotional trip to India, told PTI from Mumbai.
He will be holding clinics in Chennai from tomorrow before returning home.
The retired Yao Ming is the most successful Chinese player, having spent eight years in the NBA.
Thomas, not the tallest of players at 5 foot 9 inch, sees basketball growing fast in the sub-continental nation.
"It is growing fast, at least that is the feeling I get after doing clinics in Mumbai. But the sport here needs more resources and better coaches to realise its potential. Most importantly, you have got to have more and more kids taking to the court. That is how it became big back home.
"I hope that looking at me, the kids feel they don't need to be all that tall to go all the way," said the 25-year-old Washington born hoopster.
An NBA exhibition match in India is a future possibility with presence of Ranadive in the NBA. Thomas said he would love to be a part of it.
"I see an NBA game happening here soon. Not sure about the teams which would come here but it would be great to come back and play," he signed off.
Thomas is one of the many current and former NBA players who have been coming to India from the last seven-eight years.
