Brown Ballers bring basketball to the front court for South Asian community

Basketball is one of the most played sports in the world. According to the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) 610 million people play basketball at least twice a month — at a recreational level, semi-professionally or professionally.

So it's no surprise it's gaining popularity in India, the world's most populous country. While the Basketball Federation of India doesn't keep detailed lists of all players in every league, there is an organization closer to home that is seeking to amplify South Asian basketball players, highlight their talents, offer opportunities and remind the world that they are dominating courts.

Brown Ballers is not only a media platform but has a team of the same name featuring players from across the subcontinental diaspora. The current Brown Ballers team is largely made up of Indo-Canadian players with a Pakistani head coach, but also includes a range of ethnicities such as Punjabi and Tamil. Seven of the 10 players are Canadians with South Asian roots. All of them have played on NCAA or U Sports teams, and Jasman Sangha is the first Indo-Canadian to play in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. In April, he signed with his hometown Brampton Honey Badgers.

Gautam Kapur, 31, co-founded Brown Ballers in 2022 after previously working in the NBA. It started as "India Rising," but the group changed its name to be even more inclusive of the region. I asked him why an organization like this was important to him, and for the sports ecosystem.

"As a community we have two options," Kapur said. "We can wait for an Indian Yao Ming to fall out of the sky and have someone to root for and feel seen. Or we can take all of the talented players we have around the world, treat them the way they need to be treated, give them the resources they need, compete at a high level, and create the athletic role models … that are living amongst us."

This weekend the Brown Ballers team will play in the international tournament TBT 2025 in the U.S. that will be broadcast on FOX Sports and features a $1 million US prize. The Brown Ballers are going with the intention to make some noise, disrupt stereotypical notions of Brown athletes and hopefully, win.

South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives) are more known for their prowess in cricket or racquet sports. But make no mistake, the Brown Ballers intend to bring the heat.

Last weekend, I went to one of their practices at a high school gym in Brampton, Ont. I walked into some hard drills, a lot of intensity under the instruction of head coach Arsalan Jamil. Jamil was part of the assistant coaching staff of the Raptors 905 but feels equally connected to Brown Ballers.

"We represent the South Asians in basketball," he said. "The player pool is growing. The [Brown] kids that are growing up here in Canada, they are working … with the next RJ Barrett or Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). They are working together. I want to maximize opportunities for the kids watching us."

Jamil and Kapur both speak about how sports need to be an early part of kids' lives. The resources or exposure to basketball for children — irrespective of community — need to be there. And watching players who look like them is important. Sangha, a power forward, agrees that having a team of South Asian players is important.

"It's part of something special; playing for a group of individuals who look like me and the younger generation can look up to us," he said.

Shooting guard Jayden Grewal talked about the bond the team shares as teammates and how that helps them on the court.

"We all come from different backgrounds but have similarities because of our cultures and environment we've grown up in," Grewal said. "That brotherhood and camaraderie really shows. And basketball in general just brings people together, everyone is fighting for the same goal."

That brotherhood and family is important for the newer members of the team like Arjun Bassi. The 7-foot-2 centre may be big, but he looks up to his teammates with a deference that I, also being South Asian, immediately identify as brotherly and respectful.

For Brown Ballers, community and basketball go hand-in-hand.

"It's like a family you get to choose," Bassi said. "I'm a young guy trying to go pro, it's a great experience to learn from guys who've been through it."

He points to team leader Jaz Bains ,who has a legion of younger kids looking up to him. Bains, a former OCAA player of the year, now runs a basketball academy.

Some of the players I spoke with said that some South Asian parents might not fully understand their kids' love for basketball, but that could be from a lack of familiarity with the sport. Immigrant families often come to Canada with a fixation on education and extracurricular activities, like sports, are not seen as important or necessary.

Kapur says that is changing, but slowly.

"How often are you in a room with aunties and uncles who say, 'One day we'll be in the World Cup' or 'One day we'll have an Indian NBA all-star' Well, I'm tired of 'one day".

Brown Ballers is on the ground doing the work to amplify different South Asian athletes, but support is necessary, Kapur said. He said the South Asian community in North America is relatively wealthy and they need to contribute to share the vision and ensure that youth get athletic opportunities.

There's a growing love for basketball from South Asian youth, something Jamil says will continue.

"We belong. We just have to change the mentality that we're used to." he said. "I want the kids to know that the right people will see the right things in you. It may seem like South Asians in basketball are unconventional, but we're all human. We all belong."