Globetrotters Petition To Join NBA, 'Demand A Seat At The Table'

GWINNETT COUNTY, GEORGIA — Now that the resurgent Atlanta Hawks have gone deep into the playoffs for the first time in years … does Georgia really need another NBA team?

The Harlem Globetrotters, whose corporate headquarters are in Peachtree Corners, think so.

In an open letter to the NBA posted on June 29, the Globetrotters petitioned Commissioner Adam Silver and “the powers that be” to grant the legendary show team an expansion franchise.

“This is our time,” Globetrotters executive vice president Jeff Munn said to Atlanta Business Chronicle. “We should’ve had it 70 years ago. We’re demanding for our seat at the table.”

That “70 years ago” refers roughly to 1949, when the Globetrotters played the NBA champion Lakers, then based in Minneapolis. The Globetrotters beat them — twice — and helped spur the integration of the league in 1950.

In the letter, the team management argues the NBA built its brand by standing on goodwill already extended to the Globetrotters. “You've (the NBA) played games in 17 countries. We've played in 122. We brought basketball to the world stage,” the letter reads. “The world would have never heard of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, if it wasn't for the Globetrotters.”

Unfortunately for the Globetrotters, the NBA integrated not by inviting the whole team in, but instead stealing away some of its best players, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Earl Lloyd among them. Other NBA stars who played first for the Globetrotters include Wilt Chamberlain and Connie Hawkins.

“If you really believe what you've been saying about social justice, going back to ‘normal’ needs to look different,” the letter reads. “You can't just act like we don't exist anymore. It's time to right the wrongs and rewrite history.”

While the NBA has yet to respond to the Globetrotters or comment publicly on the letter, there probably will be some open seats at the table soon. Last year, Silver told ESPN the league would eventually grow to more than 30 teams, with Seattle and Las Vegas being the most likely cities to be awarded expansion franchises.

The all-Black Harlem Globetrotters have never actually been based in Harlem. Founded in Chicago in 1926, the Globetrotters currently are owned by Herschend Family Entertainment, a theme-entertainment company based in Peachtree Corners.

Read the Harlem Globetrotters' open letter to the NBA.

Read the story in Atlanta Business Chronicle.