The Cleveland Rebels were a basketball team in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), a forerunner of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA), based in Cleveland.
Franchise history
The Rebels were an inaugural franchise in the BAA's first season. In their only season, the team went 30–30, finishing 3rd in the Western Division and losing in the first round of the playoffs, two games to one to the New York Knickerbockers in its one season. However, the team lost money. Team president Al Suphin admitted that the team lost $75,000 while also saying he had a lack of desire to "promote" pro basketball. During the BAA's first meeting after the 1947 BAA Finals, the Rebels franchise declared that they would already not participate in the upcoming season in the BAA as a result of the loss of money and lack of desire to promote professional basketball, effectively forfeiting participation in the 1947 BAA draft. On June 9, 1947, the team announced they would suspend operations and ultimately disbanded; they were the first of four teams to disband, with the Detroit Falcons, Pittsburgh Ironmen, and
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