1) Baltimore Bullets (1947-1955)

Within the four major U.S. professional sports leagues, there exists only one franchise that won a championship after World War II and then folded, and that is the Baltimore Bullets of the NBA. That title came in 1948 when the Bullets, led by player-coach Buddy Jeannette, defeated the Warriors in the NBA Finals, clinching the series at home at the Baltimore Coliseum in game six. It was actually Baltimore’s first season in the NBA (then still called the BAA), having previously competed in the ABL prior to 1947. The Bullets lasted six more full seasons in the NBA, but they would never again finish above .500 or win another playoff series, let alone another title (it didn’t help that their coach and owner Clair Bee was an erratic alcoholic). They folded on Thanksgiving Day of 1954, just 14 games into the ’54-’55 season, with a 32-game road losing streak, a record that stood until 1990. When the Chicago Zephyrs moved to Baltimore in 1963, they took the name Bullets as an ode to the former NBA champions. But the newer Baltimore franchise, which now plays in Washington as the Wizards, has no technical connection to the original one.

2) Chicago Stags (1946-1950)

Part of a surprisingly long line of failed Chicago basketball teams, the Stags (originally called the Atomics) were part of the inaugural ’46-’47 BAA season and played their home games at the legendary Chicago Stadium. Led by dynamic guard Max Zaslofsky, the Stags finished with the league’s second-best record in ’46-’47 and reached the BAA Finals, where they lost to the Philadelphia Warriors. Unlike the Baltimore Bullets, who fell apart in the wake of their surprise title, Chicago was successful for the remainder of its run, reaching the Semifinals again in 1948, then making further playoff appearances in 1949 and 1950. Despite the success on the court, the team struggled to draw fans and was one of seven franchises to fold before the ’50-’51 season, when a failed purchase attempt by Abe Saperstein fell through. In addition to their Finals appearance, the Stags have two other claims to fame: 1) they were the first NBA franchise to invite Black players to try out for the team, in 1948, and 2) in the spring of 1950, they made a trade for a recently drafted point guard named Bob Cousy, who was then dispersed to the Celtics when the Stags folded.

3) Toronto Huskies (1946-1947)

One of the main factors of the BAA founding was pro hockey owners looking to utilize arenas when their teams had off nights or were playing on the road. 10 of the 11 original BAA teams were based in cities that had an NHL or minor league hockey franchise. Hence, Toronto had an NBA team, a full 50 years before the Raptors. In fact, the Huskies hosted the first NBA game on November 1st, 1946, losing to the Knicks. They ended up losing 12 of their first 17 games, cycling through an improbable four coaches during that stretch. The original coach was Ed Sadowski, who also doubled as their leading scorer but quickly lost control of the roster, quit as coach, and was traded to the Cleveland Rebels. They finished the season tied for last in the Eastern Division and due to financial losses, ownership quickly folded the team. Point guard Mike McCarron stands as the franchise’s all-time career leader in every major stat, including points and assists (rebounds, blocks, and steals weren’t yet tracked), yet played only eight more games in his NBA career. The Raptors were originally planned to be called the Huskies in tribute but ownership switched it over concerns that the logo would be too similar to the Timberwolves.

4) Detroit Falcons (1946-1947)

Sharing Olympia Stadium with the Red Wings, playing in the basketball hotbed of Detroit, and featuring one of the BAA’s top stars in Stan Miasek, the Falcons are the most surprising entry amongst the one-and-done franchises. They were the first to fold, calling it quits on July 10, 1947, a few months after finishing with the second worst record in the league at 20-40. It was certainly not the fault of their star forward Miasek, who was named 1st-Team All-BAA and finished fourth in the league in scoring. He was selected by the Chicago Stags in the ensuing dispersal draft and lasted five more seasons in the NBA. Meanwhile, local college stars like Michigan’s Tom King and Michigan State’s Chet Aubuchon struggled in the pro ranks and didn’t draw fans as expected. The other big problem for the Falcons is that they weren’t the only pro basketball team starting play in Detroit in 1946. The Detroit Gems joined the NBL the same year and also barely survived one season, eventually getting sold to a Minnesota businessman who moved them to Minneapolis to become the Lakers. A decade later, the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit, and pro basketball has been a steady presence in the Motor City ever since.

5) Indianapolis Jets (1948-1949)
6) Indianapolis Olympians (1949-1953)

Founded by an Indianapolis grocer, the Indianapolis Kautskys began play in 1931 and eventually joined the BAA in 1948, changing their name to the Jets. Their lone BAA season was a disaster from the beginning, with player-coach Bruce Hale getting not only fired but also traded after a 4-13 start, and the team subsequently finishing dead last in the Western Division. As part of the BAA/NBL merger, the newly formed NBA jettisoned the Jets in favor of a new Indy-based franchise, the Olympians. The Olympians roster featured six players who had been teammates both for Kentucky in back-to-back NCAA title seasons, and for Team U.S.A, earning gold at the 1948 Olympics. This included Alex Groza, who was named 1st-Team All-NBA, finished second in the league in scoring, and led the Olympians to the playoffs in 1950 and 1951. But when the CCNY point shaving scandal broke in the summer of 1951, Groza was on the list of players implicated for accepting bribes, along with fellow Olympians All-Star Ralph Beard. Both players were suspended for life and the Olympians subsequently struggled to compete in the ’51-’52 and ’52-’53 seasons before finally folding. Despite the strong history of basketball in the city, Indianapolis would have to wait 14 years to get another pro team when the Pacers joined the ABA.

7) St. Louis Bombers (1946-1950)

Coached by Naismith Hall of Famer Ken Loeffler and playing in the legendary St. Louis Arena, the Bombers were one of the most successful teams of the BAA. They reached the playoffs in each of the first three seasons, and came up just short of the 1948 BAA Finals, blowing a 3-2 series lead to the Warriors in the Semifinals round. Just as the BAA was merging with the NBL in 1949, the Bombers drafted a local legend in Ed Macauley, an All-American at Saint Louis University. Macauley was an immediate superstar but the Bombers were misfortunate in how the newly formed NBA was aligned. They were stuck in the highly competitive Central Division and had the league’s most difficult schedule, including six games each against the powerhouse Minneapolis Lakers and Rochester Royals. Over one difficult stretch of ’49-’50 from late January to early March, the Bombers lost 19 out of 24 games as home attendance dwindled. Unable to find a buyer, ownership ceased operations in April of 1950. In the ensuing dispersal draft, Macauley was selected by the Celtics and went on to make seven consecutive All-Star appearances.

8) Providence Steam Rollers (1946-1949)

Their name came from a former NFL team in the city and turned out to be a cruelly ironic one. Providence was arguably the worst franchise in NBA history, regularly steam rolled by opponents. In three seasons in the BAA, Providence finished with an overall record of 46-122, never made the playoffs, and set the single season record in ’47-’48 with a .125 winning percentage (it was eventually mercifully broken by the 76ers in ’72-’73). One silver lining was point guard Ernie Calverley, who represented the Steam Rollers in ’46-’47 when he became the inaugural NBA leader in assists per game. Another notable Steam Roller was Nat Hickey, who set the record for oldest player in NBA history. Hired as Providence’s head coach midway through their infamous ’47-’48 season, Hickey appointed himself as player-coach just a few days before his 46th birthday. In two appearances for the Steam Rollers, both losses of course, Hickey shot 0-of-6 from the field, committed five personal fouls, and scored just two points (on free throws). After folding the Steam Rollers in 1949, owner Louis Pieri bought a minority stake in the Celtics. He agreed on the condition that his friend, Red Auerbach, would be hired as coach, forever changing the trajectory of NBA history.  

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9) Pittsburgh Ironmen (1946-1947)
10) Cleveland Rebels (1946-1947)

Typically confined to the Browns and Steelers of the NFL, the Cleveland-Pittsburgh spilled into the world of basketball for one fleeting season. The Rebels and Ironmen were both BAA charter members and both folded within a year. They met six times in their brief, collective history, with the Rebels winning four of them. Wins were difficult to come by in general for the Ironmen, who finished with the league’s worst record at 15-45. Cleveland had more success, finishing 30-30 and reaching the postseason, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Knicks. The most notable player from each team retired in the summer of 1947, rather than make themselves available in the dispersal draft. For the Rebels, that was their second leading scorer Frankie Baumholtz, who left basketball altogether to focus on his professional baseball career. For the Ironmen, it was Press Maravich, who retired as a player to become a coach after his first son, future Hall of Fame inductee Pete, was born that June. Cleveland got a second chance in the NBA in 1970 when the Cavaliers joined the league. Pittsburgh has long been a rumored NBA expansion or relocation destination but thus far has only landed the Condors, who lasted four seasons in the ABA and won one title before folding well ahead of the merger.

11) Denver Nuggets (1949-1950)

Mostly confined to the east coast in its early days, the NBA wasn’t truly a National league until the early ’60s, when the Lakers and Warriors relocated to California. A full decade before that expansion, the Nuggets became the first NBA team in the mountain time zone and paid the price for that isolation. Founded in 1939 as an AAU squad sponsored by the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, the Nuggets spent the ’48-’49 season in the NBL, which made them eligible for the NBA merger. To accommodate for their distance, the NBA gave the Nuggets a unique and arduous schedule that included a 14-game road trip to start the season. They lost all 14 of those games, enroute to a 11-51 finish, by far the worst record in the league. Though the franchise technically disbanded after the season ended, many of the players and coaches regrouped to play as the Denver Refiners for one season in the National Professional Basketball League before shuttering for good. The Nuggets name lives on, of course, as Denver received a charter ABA franchise in 1968 called the Rockets, who changed their name to Nuggets in 1974 ahead of the pending ABA-NBA merger to avoid confusion with the Houston Rockets.

12) Sheboygan Red Skins (1949-1950)
13) Waterloo Hawks (1949-1950)
14) Anderson Packers (1949-1950)

At the time of its 1949 merger with the BAA, the NBL had nine franchises and a 10th planned for expansion (the Indianapolis Olympians, see above). Seven of those franchises joined the merger, leaving out only the Dayton Rens (due to segregation), the Hammond Buccaneers (due to financial insolvency), and the Oshkosh All-Stars (due to ownership disinterest). Four of those seven lasted just one season in the NBA, the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Waterloo Hawks, the Anderson Packers, and the Denver Nuggets. Of those four, Sheboygan (located in Wisconsin) had by far the most NBL success, with six NBL Finals appearances and a 1943 title, but were in a roster rebuilding process. The Waterloo (Iowa) Hawks and Anderson (Illinois) Packers were both relatively new teams with no history of success. When the trio joined the NBA, they did so at two unique disadvantages: Their distance from the powerhouse east coast teams, and their status as the three smallest markets in the league. Thanks to a unique, expanded playoff system, the Red Skins and Packers actually reached the 1950 postseason, with Anderson even upsetting the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in the first round. But some of the league’s more metropolitan teams like the Knicks and Celtics were bewailing to commissioner Maurice Podoloff about long road trips to tiny midwestern towns, and the NBA kicked out the Red Skins, Hawks, and Packers after just one season. The three teams then tried to stay afloat by joining the newly created National Professional Basketball League, which shut down operations before even completing a single season. While the Hawks and Packers folded permanently at that point, the Red Skins made a go at returning to their barnstorming roots, but found that the old semi-pro business model was no longer viable as the NBA was gaining popularity.

15) Washington Capitols (1946-1951)

Of the 15 franchises on this list, the Capitols had the most easily avoidable issues leading to their downfall. Coached by a young Red Auerbach, Washington dominated the first BAA regular season. They won 17 straight games, setting an NBA record that stood for over two decades, and finished 49-11, a full 10 games ahead of the second place team in the standings. They fell short of the BAA Finals that year, upset by the Stags in the Semifinals, but came back stronger. In ’48-’49, the Capitols set another win streak record by starting the season 15-0 (that record stood all the way until 2015), finished first place in the Eastern Division, and gave George Mikan and the Lakers a valiant battle in a BAA Finals loss. Sensing the changing nature of the game and the merger with the NBL imminent, Auerbach wisely pushed owner Mike Uline to retool the roster by breaking the league’s color barrier and signing Black players. But Uline refused, Auerbach quit, and the Capitols became a footnote of basketball history. They finished below .500 for the first time in ’49-’50, then folded halfway through the ’50-’51 season after starting 10-25. It took 22 years for Washington to get another NBA franchise, when the Bullets moved to D.C. from Baltimore in 1973. While the Capitols didn’t heed Auerbach’s advice in 1949, they wound up breaking the color barrier one year later anyway, when Earl Lloyd suited up for their ’50-’51 season opener.