Rhode Island's Honey Kaur: The Pride of Punjab
The first Indian woman to come through the NBA Academy program and to play collegiate basketball has her sights set on the WNBA
There are very few paths left to be blazed in women’s college basketball. Players have risen to the top levels of the sport from prep programs like IMG, junior colleges, and divisions II and III. Talented young Americans have footsteps to follow.
Harsimran “Honey” Kaur had no such paved path.
The University of Rhode Island forward is in her last college season, and she’s playing better than ever before. Her journey spans three continents, five schools, one global pandemic; the only constant being Kaur’s relentless drive to carve a new path.
Kaur hails from the state of Punjab, India, where she still visits family and hosts her own basketball camp in the summer. It was there in Punjab where Honey’s dad, Sukhdev, trained his daughter everyday at four in the morning for seven years. A former high-end university talent in India, Sukhdev’s passion and drive fostered a fiery ambition in Honey.
“At the time that I was growing up, there were not a lot of girls, or people, who wanted to play basketball,” Kaur said. “My dad was the one who coached me for seven years, I’m so grateful for him, but it was not just the coaching.”
Kaur was technically and physically on another level compared to her competition when camps became more common. The belief and confidence that her father gave her were the biggest asset. For Kaur, the self-belief begat the work, and the work begat greater self-belief.
“If I don't believe that the dreams that I have I'm gonna get to one day, it's not gonna really happen.” Kaur said.
To push to be an elite hooper, in a place that doesn’t really produce them, and a culture that doesn’t inherently valorize them, is a mountain to dream against. Some other athletes might have shied away from the challenge, or been content dominating scholastic leagues across India.
“It’s just knowing that no one has ever done it, knowing that I don't have footsteps to follow and knowing that I'm going to be the one to have to create them for other people to follow, it's gonna be hard because my calling is higher,” Kaur said.
Thrown into the deep end at every turn, the only thing Kaur could do is lean in.
When Maria Laterza lands in India, the weather is hot and the air is smoggy. Laterza was the former NBA’s International Elite Basketball Operations Coordinator and played nearly five years on the Italian Women’s national basketball team.
There isn’t time to stop and breathe it in. As the coordinator, she has to get the top 30 girls basketball players in India flown in from their respective states for their week with the NBA Academy program in New Delhi.
When Laterza finally does get a chance to watch, one girl stands out above the rest.
“We had a break in between lunch, and my first email that I sent back to the league office… we have a WNBA player in India,” Laterza said, her voice still brimming with excitement from that day in 2018. “We have to invest all our resources because she's up there with the guys and this is something we can't look over.”
From there, the challenge becomes getting opportunities; it’s inconvenient to coalesce the 30 best girls from a subcontinent in one place. Simultaneously, everyday they can’t be tested by equal or better competition is another day they fall behind.
Honey would attend three more camps in India, and would continue to dominate with a long athletic frame, a polished base of skill, and good instincts.
After months of being clearly a cut above her peers, the NBA followed up, taking the step to send her to the NBA Academy at the Australian Institute for Sport. The hope was that more consistent competition would catch Honey up to her European and Latin American counterparts.
“I remember telling her this one thing, [...], ‘you're good, but if you wanna be great, you have to get out of here.’ And that's such a hard thing to do,” Laterza said.
“‘If you wanna be great you’re going to have to sacrifice your family, you're gonna have to leave them, and you're gonna have to go to Australia,’” remembered Kaur, quoting Laterza. “As much as it was hard [...] for me, I think it was a great decision,”
Suddenly, the COVID-19 pandemic strikes. By shuttering large swathes of the world and placing legal limits on outside activity and congregation, Honey lost valuable developmental minutes and opportunities during her formative years.
The pandemic limits also let the air out of her recruiting balloon as well. What initially looked like a hotly contested international commitment now seemed to be a scramble to find any sufficient division I home.
Honey eventually moved to a prep school in Florida, Central Point Christian Academy, to continue getting seen by American college coaches and playing against American players.
Additionally, Kaur began her college career in 2021 and did not get the bonus years that players received during the pandemic.
Kaur ultimately committed to the University of San Diego, acclimating to the American college game over three years. By the end of her last season in Southern California, Kaur was a key rotational contributor averaging 8.6 Points and 5 rebounds per game.
“Being in San Diego for 3/4 years was the home that I made outside of basketball,” Kaur said. “It was a little home that I had away from India, and you get a little nervous when you transfer from across the country.”
What should an athlete value when transferring late in their career? Some might go for the glitziest name or location, while others would simply go the place where they would play most or to the staff that best flattered them.
For an athlete as ambitious as Harsimran Kaur, it’s extremely necessary to take the long view.
“The basketball world is now turning into business, any other sport is, but when I was talking to other coaches when I was visiting them, it was more business like ‘hey this is the transaction and this is how it's gonna be…’” Kaur said.
Tammi Reiss’ pitch was different. As an elite coach from the Pat Summit tree, she emphasizes individual relationships and development regardless of age.
“I like the coaches giving me time and spending all that time on me and pouring into me so that I don't only become this player who wins games for Rhode Island, but also become this player who is even greater and become this one player from India that everybody knows ,” Kaur said.
Nowhere was that more clear than in the film session of Kaur’s visit. There, Reiss’ staff demonstrated both the knowledge and the understanding of where Kaur’s game is and could be. She committed shortly after and hasn’t looked back.
The Rhode Island Rams are 6-4 in the A-10 conference, still solidly in the hunt after dominating Fordham in the Bronx. To put together a winning run, the team will need to lean on the sense of connection.
“It was more than basketball, it was more than winning. It was more than just a transaction that I felt. With the coaches, with the whole staff, not just Tammy.” Kaur said.
At 6’4” and having collegiate success in America, Harsimran Kaur is already a strong enough talent to be an overseas professional.
Not only does she have immediate value as a defensive and rebounding asset, but Kaur also has the upside to shoot and create even more. Additionally, Kaur carries a marketing value in one of the largest emerging markets on earth.
“I want to play pro overseas but also want to try playing WNBA, in the league, because I know I can do it, and if I put the work in and have the right mindset and just keep having these people surrounding me keep pouring into me, I think I can for sure do it,” Kaur said.
Laterza agrees, though she might be biased as one of Kaur’s confidants. The former Italian international says Kaur’s poise and physicality make her a good overseas player as a minimum.
“My prediction is that she's someone who could definitely make a training camp roster. Battle there, understand what that looks like, what that feels like. She's someone that could potentially get drafted. If I'm a WNBA team and I'm thinking long term, I'm absolutely drafting her in the second or third round,” Laterza said.
Wherever Honey Kaur ends up, she’ll continue shouldering her mantle as one of India's great young basketball talents. Kaur has already started the process of giving back by establishing a basketball camp of her own, mirroring those formative ones in her childhood.
“We didn't ask for money or a registration fee, so I didn’t even know if people were gonna show up,” explained Kaur, “The second I posted on Instagram and the second I posted on other stages, people were calling me from South India, from the states I've never been to in India, so it was like what is going on? Is that how big of an impact I made from just trying?”
The culmination of a seven year journey of pre-professional basketball will end this year, either in the A-10 tournament or the ‘Big Dance’ itself. A string of good performances, at the right time, in front of the right people, could catapult Honey Kaur into draft conversations. Shrink from the larger spotlights and she’ll be crossed off some high end overseas teams lists.
It all comes down to this year, these last two months, this stretch run.
“It's always been about basketball. Your opportunities are gonna find you, whether it's now or five years from now,” Laterza said. “The goal is basketball. Enjoy these moments. I am so happy now in these moments for her.”