The NBA Academy India opened in May of 2017 at the Jaypee Greens Integrated Sports Complex in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) to give the top male and female prospects in the country the coaching and facilities required to realise their potential on and off the court.
A year after its opening, the Academy conducted its first-ever Women's camp in Noida just a few days before the 2018 Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp. That was the first of three Women's camps conducted over a 16-month span with the second held in January of 2019, again in Noida, while the third, in October of 2019, was held at the American School of Bombay during the NBA India Games.
In these camps, apart from the on-court drills and training, the coaches and support staff also shared valuable information on how the young women could further their careers with basketball by taking their games abroad with a "Pathway to the NCAA and WNBA" presentation.
That along with the exposure that these young prospects received in the camps seemed to have been the catalyst that women's basketball in the country was looking for.
As of October 2020, roughly 30 months since the first camp, eight female prospects have committed to prep schools and colleges in the United States.
Sanjana Ramesh
Sanjana Ramesh was the first star of the NBA Academy India Women's program. She was named co-MVP of the first camp in May of 2018. A week later, she won the Camp MVP award for girls at the Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp.
MORE: Sanjana's exclusive interview with NBA.com
In November of 2018, less than six months after making a name for herself with two MVP awards, Ramesh signed a National Letter of Intent with North Arizona University, making her the second Indian-born female player to receive a Division I Basketball Scholarship, Kavita Akula being the first.
Sunishka Karthik
In August of the following year - 2019, Sunishka Karthik committed to Woodside Priory High School. She was a camper at the first NBA Academy India Women's camp and the subsequent Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp in 2018.
Having won the Jr. NBA National Championship in India earlier in 2018, Karthik was part of the Bangalore squad that represented the Indian girls squad at the Jr. NBA Global Championships in August of 2018 where she won the Community Award. She also attended the second Women's Camp in Noida in January of 2019.
Khushi Dongre
An awardee at the first two NBA Academy India Women's camps, Dongre committed to the ASA College Miami in August of 2019.
At the first camp, she won the Best Teammate award, which she followed up by winning the Coaches Award at the second camp. Prior to signing with the ASA College, she also represented India at the FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup 2019 in Malaysia where the team finished seventh after going in as the 14th seed.
Asmat Taunque
A prospect at both of the first two NBA Academy India Women's camps, Asmat Taunque was recently accepted into the California Institute of Technology, an NCAA Division III institution in the USA.
This comes after she graduated from The Lawrenceville School, a prep school where she was accepted to in August of 2019.
A former captain of the Maharashtra U16 girls squad, she had represented India at the 2017 FIBA U-16 Women's Asia Championship.
Harsimran Kaur
From January of 2019 to July of 2020, Harsimran Kaur had arguably the greatest 15 months any Indian junior prospect has ever had.
At her first NBA Academy India Women's camp in January of 2019, she received the Defense Award. At the next camp, during the NBA India Games, she received the Camp MVP award. Twice in the span of five months - November 2019 and February 2020 - she made history by becoming the only prospect from the NBA Academy Women's program to be invited to the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia.
She went on to announce high school and college commitments to Central Pointe Christian Academy and the University of San Diego, respectively.
For more on her journey, click here.
Siya Deodhar and Ann Mary Zachariah
The duo of Siya Deodhar and Ann Mary Zachariah committed to the same prep academy - Life Prep Academy in Wichita, Kansas - in the span of a couple of weeks.
Deodhar, arguably the second-best player behind Harsimran in the women's division over those 15 months, was an awardee at every one of the three NBA Academy India Women's camps. She also attended the BWB Asia Camp in 2019 in Tokyo and followed that up by getting invited to the BWB Global Camp during the 2020 All-Star Weekend in Chicago.
For more on her journey, click here.
Meanwhile, Zachariah, who was a camper at the first two NBA Academy India Women's Camp, has represented India in junior FIBA tournaments - U16 Women's Asian Championship 2017 and U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018.
For more on her journey, click here.
Grishma Niranjan
The MVP of the second NBA Academy Women's camp in January of 2019, Grishma Niranjan had committed to join Loomis Chaffee School - a prep school in Windsor, Connecticut.
The Bangalore native, who is coming off an ACL tear, was also one of two Indians at the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Charlotte during the 2019 All-Star Weekend.
The views expressed here do not represent those of the NBA or its clubs.