Harlem Globetrotters send letter to Adam Silver asking to join NBA as expansion team
As the NBA considers expansion, the Harlem Globetrotters are asking to be made an NBA franchise.
In an open letter to commissioner Adam Silver, the Globetrotters explained their historical significance to the sport of basketball and said that “if you really believe what you’ve been saying about social justice, going back to ‘normal’ needs to look different.
“You can’t just act like we don’t exist anymore. It’s time to right the wrongs and rewrite history. It’s time for the NBA to honor what the Globetrotters have done for OUR sport, both here in the U.S. and around the globe,” the letter read. “Based on what we’ve already proven, we can field a team of talent on par with the pros of today, and we want the chance to do that. As a world renowned and legendary professional basketball team, we petition Commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA governors and the powers that be to grant The Original Harlem Globetrotters an NBA franchise. Not now, but right now!”
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Expansion has not happened in the NBA since the then-Charlotte Bobcats — now Hornets — made it 30 teams in the NBA in 2004. And while Silver said expansion was not something that is “on the front burner,” he noted that it is something the league is considering.
In the letter, the Globetrotters explained that in 1949, the Globetrotters faced the then-BAA Champion Lakers and won for the second straight year. At the time, basketball had yet to be integrated.
