Basketball: Harlem Globetrotters candidates to join the NBA

The famous Harlem Globetrotters team, known for exhibition matches that mix basketball and entertainment, applied to join the NBA, in a letter to League boss Adam Silver. The Globetrotters call on the NBA to reward the role the team played in the development and influence of basketball around the world by welcoming it to the league.

“As an organization whose history is already closely tied to that of the NBA, the Harlem Globetrotters would love to have the place they have long deserved.“The Globetrotters general manager said in a statement.”Our players have been essential in the development of the League since 1949. We were proud that our players were recruited by NBA teams“, he added. “It’s time for the NBA to recognize our contribution to sport.”

“As the League plans to grow, the time has come. Harlem Globetrotters are ready to enter negotiations to become a franchiseNBA, he continued. Last December, NBA boss Adam Silver hinted that the league could welcome new teams, saying in an interview with ESPN that expansion of the championship was “inevitable.”

Already professionals before the creation of the NBA

Founded in 1926, the Harlem Globetrotters perform at exhibition matches mixing sporting prowess and entertainment and have performed in 122 countries around the world. But they were also a real professional team and even won the World Professional Basketball Tournament, a very famous basketball tournament in the 1940s, before the creation of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The team was instrumental in several key moments in NBA history, most notably when Globetrotter Nathaniel Clifton became the first black day to enter the league in 1950. In the same year, Globetrotter Chuck Cooper became the first black basketball player. to be drafted when selected by the Boston Celtics in 14th place.