There are numerous ways an NBA G League roster can be constructed from Two-Way Players, returning players, affiliate players, local tryout players, NBA G League Draft picks, NBA Draft rights players, NBA assignees, NBA Draft-eligible players and free agents.
Barring Satnam Singh, who was the first, and remains the only, Indian to be picked in the NBA Draft, the only way India's top basketball talent has made it to the NBA's official development league is by getting picked in the NBA G League Draft or signing on as a free agent.
MORE: Indians to have played in the G League | Bollywood meets NBA
This G League is the closest any Indian has come to playing in the NBA.
Below you can find a list of every Indian who has been picked in the G League Draft.
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How many Indians have been picked in the NBA G League Draft?
In NBA G League Draft history, only three Indians have been selected - Palpreet Singh Brar, Amjyto Singh and Princepal Singh. All of these three draft selections have occurred in recent history, since 2016.
Palpreet Singh Brar
On October 31st in 2016, the Long Island Nets – the affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets – drafted Palpreet Singh Brar with the 80th overall pick (4th round, 11th pick).
The selection made the 6-foot-9 hoopster, from Punjab's Sri Mukhtar Sahib district, the first Indian-born player ever to be picked in the G League Draft.
MORE: On the rebound: India's first G-League Draftee Palpreet Singh Brar
After making history, however, Brar's journey was cut short when he was left off of the team's final roster for the season. Despite the shortcoming, his journey to a roster spot on a G League squad is what became the pathway and inspiration to many future aspiring Indian ballers.
You can read more on his journey, here.
Amjyot Singh
A year later, Amjyot Singh put his name alongside Palpreet.
After going undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft, three years later, he was picked by the Oklahoma City Blue – the G League affiliate of the Thunder – 95th overall (4th round, 25th pick) in the 2017 G League Draft.
MORE: Amjyot Singh - A Career Interrupted
He went on to play 43 games in the G League, 36 with the Blue and seven with the Wisconsin Herd, with career averages of 2.42 points in 8.7 minutes, the highest recorded by an Indian in the NBA's development league.
Princepal Singh
After playing a year with the G League Ignite, a team that signs young prospects from around the world to train them with professional experience and prepare them for the subsequent NBA Draft, Princepal will continue his G League career with the Stockton Kings.
The Stockton Kings, the G League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, selected Princepal with the 61st pick (Round 3, Pick 5) in the 2021 G League Draft.
MORE: Princepal has his eyes set on the NBA
Princepal comes into the 2021-22 G League season having won the 2021 NBA Summer League with the Kings. So far in his G League career, through four games, he has totalled nine points, four rebounds and one steal in 25 minutes of court time
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