Mumbai, Sep 9 (IANS): NBA Global Academy alum Aashay Verma joined Butte College, located in Northern California, where he will be a student-athlete studying marketing and communications and playing for the men's basketball team, a statement said.

The 7ft 2in center is from India and moved to Australia when the NBA Global Academy was set up in Canberra in June 2017. Since 2016, Verma has been a part of multiple camps organised by the NBA including the NBA Global Camp in Treviso, Italy, in 2018 where he competed alongside NBA Academy India prospects Amaan Sandhu and Princepal Singh.

Verma, a Hyderabad native, was first scouted during tryouts for the first-ever ACG-NBA Jump program in 2015-16.

Since then, he has been selected in numerous elite camps including Basketball Without Borders Asia 2016 in Australia and Basketball Without Borders Global 2017 during NBA All-Star Weekend 2017 in New Orleans.

He also joined a group of select players from NBA Academies at the NCAA Next Generation Showcase in San Antonio and Minnesota in 2018 and 2019 respectively, where he competed against top US and international high school-age prospects.

"When I came to the NBA Global Academy in 2017, I really didn't know how far I could go. But the training and exposure I got here has brought me here today, helped me find my potential. Now at Butte College, I will continue to get better at my game and work hard to earn an NCAA Scholarship," said Verma.