That’s because Satnam Singh is 14 years old.

Singh was India’s best-kept hoops secret until he recently spent six weeks training at the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton, Florida, working with former college coaches to hone a raw skill set that already has some people calling him India’s answer to Yao Ming.

Of course, Singh is still at least several years away from making a discernible impact (if any) in the NBA, and there’s a long track record of untested players from other countries who flame out once they face NBA competition (Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Yinka Dare, and so on).

But if Singh keeps working on his development and practices against legitimate, near-NBA competition, it’s hard to overstate how good this kid can be.

Realizing the economic potential for such a partnership, the NBA has been proactive in hosting publicized events in India, such as the Mahindra NBA Challenge, which organizes multicity leagues for age groups as young as 12.

Hoops officials in India have also thrown their full weight behind Singh’s rising star, featuring him prominently on the front page of the Basketball Federation of India’s website. In fact, his official bio kicks off by describing him as “one of the country’s brightest basketball hopes.”

And assuming India’s annual 1.3-percent population growth continues for the next, say, five years, that would mean another 100 million people that’ll be pulling for Singh as he takes his talents to the NBA.

Image: Basketball Federation of India

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Authors: Erik Malinowski

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