| Detroit Gems | |
| Leagues: | National Basketball League |
| Division: | Western Division |
| Founded: | 1946 |
| Folded: | 1947 |
| History: | Detroit Gems 1946–1947 (NBL) |
| Location: | Detroit, Michigan |
The Detroit Gems were an American professional basketball team based in Detroit, Michigan. It played one season, 1946–47, in the Western Division of the National Basketball League,[1] a predecessor organization to the National Basketball Association. Following the season, the franchise was sold to Minneapolis to become the Minneapolis Lakers, who are now the Los Angeles Lakers.[2]
The Gems were a team mostly made up of local players and coached by Joel Mason.[3] It started its season with an exhibition game against the Oshkosh All-Stars,[4] a 54–69 loss.[5] It started its 44-game regular season schedule on 11 November in Anderson, Indiana,[6] with a loss against the Anderson Duffey Packers.[7] The Gems, who were owned by a local jewelers Maurice Winston and C. King Boring, planned to build a "sports palace" in Dearborn, which was mooted to hold 7,000-10,000 people. But the Dearborn Forum was never built; instead, they played their home games at various locations, including Holy Redeemer gym in Detroit and Lincoln High School Gym in Ferndale. They also played a few doubleheaders with the Basketball Association of America's Detroit Falcons at the Detroit Olympia, and even transferred some home games to Flint, Michigan. Attendance was slim, about 300 per game.
For the season, the Gems won only four out of 44 games -- ending the season with a 23-game losing streak -- and finishing last in the league; ownership claimed the poor crowds had cost them some $30,000.[8] Despite this, NBL commissioner Ward "Piggy" Lambert announced in May that the Gems would return for another season; however, the franchise was put up for a sale and purchased for US$15,000 by Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen. The club relocated to Minneapolis, to become the Minneapolis Lakers.[9]