1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season

Pro basketball team season (inaugural season won NBL championship) March 2026 August 2023 Minneapolis Lakers NBL yes yes 1948 43 17 Western 1 John Kundla Max Winter Ben Berger Minneapolis Auditorium NBL Champions (Defeated Royals 3–1) MNN Detroit Gems The 1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season was the inaugural season for the Lakers in Minneapolis following its relocation from Detroit where it played as the Detroit Gems the previous season.Pro cagers say adieu https://www.newspapers.com/image/97720353/ 8 September 2024 Detroit Free Press 4 June 1947 16 Newspapers.comDetroit Gems Nat'l cage franchise sold https://www.newspapers.com/image/365272201/ 8 September 2024 The Herald-Press Associated Press 4 January 1947 en Newspapers.com This season would be considered a hard reboot for the franchise, to the point where some fans and sports historians claim that the Detroit Gems and Minneapolis Lakers exist as two separate franchises due to the myriad of ways the franchise reset itself from the past in Detroit to the way it became what it was out in Minneapolis. During this season, on February 19, 1948, the Lakers would play a notable exhibition game against the Harlem Globetrotters to decide which of the two teams were considered the best team of the two at that time; while the Globetrotters would stun the Lakers with a 61–59 defeat for the Lakers due to a buzzer-beating 30-foot shot by Ermer Robinson, the game itself would be a catalyst for not just many more exhibition matches between the two teams for a few years afterward once the Lakers entered the BAA and then the NBA (which saw Harlem winning their first rematch before the Lakers won the rest of their subsequent match-ups not long afterward), but also helped see the end of racial segregation in the sport of basketball as well.Tricksters in the Madhouse Christgau John University of Nebraska Press 2004 The Lakers won the National Basketball League championship against the Rochester Royals. George Mikan led the team with 21.3 points per game and was the league's MVP. After this season ended for the NBL, both the Lakers and Royals would leave the NBL to join the newly rivaling Basketball Association of America (BAA) along with two other longstanding NBL clubs, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and the Indianapolis Kautskys, though Fort Wayne and Indianapolis would rebrand themselves as the Fort Wayne Pistons and Indianapolis Jets respectively in order to join properly due to the BAA not allowing for teams to have brand promotions as a part of their team names on display.Sachare Alex The Dynasties: Minneapolis Lakers https://www.nba.com/history/dynastiesminneapolis_050602.html nba.com 5 July 2019 After talks of a 1948 championship series between the champions of the National Basketball League (which were the Minneapolis Lakers) and the newly-rivaling Basketball Association of America (which were formerly the older rivaling American Basketball League's own Baltimore Bullets, which was also the BAA's original Baltimore Bullets franchise) ultimately never came to fruition, it was decided that the Lakers would also participate in what would ultimately become the final World Professional Basketball Tournament ever held.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 179 In the final tournament ever held, the Lakers would crush the original American Basketball League's Wilkes-Barre Barons (who were the only non-NBL professional team competing in that event) 98–48 in the quarterfinal round and barely held on against the Anderson Duffey Packers with a 59–56 win in the semifinal round before winning the final championship over the independent New York Renaissance with a 75–71 victory that year,Bill Carlson Lakers 'World Champions' now https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-minneapolis-star/110326155/ 15 March 2022 The Minneapolis Star 12 April 1948 23 Newspapers.com with the championship match having them being led behind George Mikan's tournament record and (MVP performing) 40 points scored that night.Edward Prell Lakers defeat Rens, 75 to 71, for pro title https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99115890/ 5 April 2022 Chicago Tribune 12 April 1948 57 Mikan's 40 points, on 14 field goals and 12 of 15 free throws, broke the tournament individual scoring record. Newspapers.com Draft picks The Minneapolis Lakers would participate in the 1947 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1947 BAA draft due to a joint agreement the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America had with each other during the offseason period. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Lakers' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up (assuming they entered this draft as the Minneapolis Lakers instead of their original Detroit Gems team name at the time), with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process. Roster 1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers #79A3DD #F7C330 #F7C330 #FFFFFF 10 Warren Ajax F-C 6 6 220 Minnesota 1921-05-12 6 Don Carlson G-F 6 0 170 Minnesota 1919-03-22 2 Ted Cook basketball G 6 0 170 Tennessee 1922-02-06 16 Bill Durkee G-F 6 2 180 California 1923-05-15 3 Jack Dwan F-G 6 2 190 Loyola Chicago 1921-05-03 9 Ken Exel G 6 0 175 Minnesota 1925-06-10 15 Bob Gerber C-F 6 6 225 Toledo 1924-01-01 20 Tony Jaros F-G 6 5 210 Minnesota 1920-02-21 7 Johnny Jorgensen G-F 6 2 185 DePaul 1921-12-28 99 George Mikan C 6 10 245 DePaul 1924-06-18 18 Paul Napolitano F-G 6 2 185 San Francisco 1923-02-03 11 Joe Patanelli F 6 2 185 Indiana 1919-09-18 17 Jim Pollard F-C 6 4 185 Stanford 1922-07-09 4 Jack Rocker C-F 6 5 210 California 1922-08-12 24 Herm Schaefer G-F 6 0 175 Indiana 1919-12-20 12 Don Smith basketball, born 1920 G-F 6 2 190 Minnesota 1920-07-27 John Kundla https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/MNN/1948.html Note: Warren Ajax, Ted Cook, Bill Durkee, Ken Exel, Bob Gerber, Joe Patanelli, and Jack Rocker were not on the playoff roster this season.MINNEAPOLIS LAKERS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/minneapolis-lakers/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaPeach Basket Society: 1947-48 Minneapolis Lakers (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/04/1947-48-minneapolis-lakers-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 25 April 20161947-48 Minneapolis Lakers basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-MNL/y-1947 StatsCrew.com 26 March 2026 National Basketball League Regular season Does not include exhibition games played either within the NBL or by other teams outside of the NBL that did not count towards Minneapolis' official NBL record for this season, such as the famous 1948 Globetrotters–Lakers exhibition game involving the world famous (all-black) Harlem Globetrotters. While the Lakers would initially struggle with getting fully acclimated with George Mikan's presence at first (to the point of having a low starting point of a 4–6 record early on), once they got used to working with him properly, they would become a near unstoppable force going forward by December 20, with them being fully undefeated against NBL teams during the month of February 1948. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Minneapolis Lakers during their second and final season (or first and only season if the season played as the Detroit Gems isn't included in their history) within the NBL before moving on to play in the BAA (now NBA) for their following season of play. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 1 @ Oshkosh W 49–47 1–0 2 November 9 @ Tri-Cities L 58–66 1–1 3 November 13 Tri-Cities W 57–41 2–1 4 November 17 Sheboygan W 58–43 3–1 5 November 20 @ Sheboygan L 41–56 3–2 6 November 23 Indianapolis W 67–56 4–2 7 November 27 @ Syracuse L 66–72 4–3 8 November 29 @ Rochester L 53–56 4–4 9 December 1 @ Flint (Midland) L 68–75 4–5 10 December 2 @ Toledo L 57–59 4–6 11 December 3 @ Fort Wayne W 68–58 5–6 12 December 4 N Fort Wayne W 56–42 6–6 13 December 6 N Anderson W 88–67 7–6 14 December 7 Oshkosh L 38–44 7–7 15 December 10 Toledo W 49–46 8–7 16 December 12 N Fort Wayne L 55–60 8–8 17 December 13 @ Oshkosh W 67–57 9–8 18 December 14 Anderson W 60–49 10–8 19 December 17 Anderson L 53–57 10–9 20 December 18 N Toledo W 66–56 11–9 21 December 21 Tri-Cities W 68–62 12–9 22 December 22 Sheboygan W 61–52 13–9 23 December 27 Toledo W 55–52 14–9 24 December 28 Indianapolis W 58–48 15–9 25 January 2 Fort Wayne L 41–46 15–10 26 January 4 Flint W 75–50 16–10 27 January 5 Flint W 80–42 17–10 28 January 8 @ Syracuse W 68–59 18–10 29 January 10 @ Flint (Midland) W 66–49 19–10 30 January 11 @ Tri-Cities L 35–44 19–11 31 January 13 @ Indianapolis W 64–45 20–11 32 January 17 @ Syracuse L 65–71 (OT) 20–12 33 January 18 @ Rochester W 75–73 21–12 34 January 19 @ Flint (Midland) W 85–72 22–12 35 January 22 N Rochester W 69–64 23–12 36 January 24 Fort Wayne W 69–52 24–12 37 January 26 Rochester W 76–58 25–12 38 January 28 Rochester L 50–53 25–13 39 February 1 Indianapolis W 85–55 26–13 40 February 4 Syracuse W 70–55 27–13 41 February 5 Syracuse W 95–75 28–13 42 February 8 Oshkosh W 78–56 29–13 43 February 12 @ Sheboygan W 68–57 30–13 44 February 14 Toledo W 65–50 31–13 45 February 16 @ Anderson W 63–54 32–13 46 February 17 @ Indianapolis W 66–58 33–13 47 February 22 Oshkosh W 85–58 34–13 48 February 23 Tri-Cities W 57–48 35–13 49 February 25 Anderson W 60–54 36–13 50 February 29 N Syracuse W 66–56 37–13 51 March 2 @ Indianapolis L 63–83 37–14 52 March 4 @ Anderson L 70–73 37–15 53 March 6 @ Oshkosh W 69–67 38–15 54 March 7 @ Sheboygan W 68–67 39–15 55 March 8 Sheboygan W 65–55 (OT) 40–15 56 March 13 Fort Wayne W 92–64 41–15 57 March 14 Flint/Midland W 80–54 42–15 58 March 16 @ Rochester L 63–66 42–16 59 March 17 @ Toledo W 60–56 43–16 60 March 20 @ Tri-Cities L 61–65 43–17 Western Division standings NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Opening Round (1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (3W) Oshkosh All-Stars: Minneapolis wins series 3–1 Game 1: March 23, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Oshkosh 68Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 423 Game 2: March 24, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 88, Oshkosh 65 Game 3: March 26, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 69, Minneapolis 51 Game 4: March 27, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Minneapolis 61, Oshkosh 55https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/NBL/1948/playoffs/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oshkosh-northwestern-61-55/187032999/ This would be the first and only playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Oshkosh All-Stars, as the Oshkosh franchise would decide to not join up with the other teams in entering the BAA/NBA in later seasons (first unintentionally before later doing so intentionally through concerns involving the All-Stars team potentially moving to Milwaukee in order to find success in the new NBA league). NBL Western Division Semifinals (1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (2W) Tri-Cities Blackhawks: Minneapolis wins series 2–0 Game 1: March 30, 1948 @ Moline, IL (Tri-Cities): Minneapolis 98, Tri-Cities 79 Game 2: March 31, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 83, Tri-Cities 59 This would be the first official playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who are now known as the Atlanta Hawks. They would have more meetings in the NBA Playoffs until 1970, when divisional realignment limited potential playoff meetings between them to just the NBA Finals going forward. NBL Championship (1W) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (1E) Rochester Royals: Minneapolis wins series 3–1 Game 1: April 13, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Rochester 72 Game 2: April 14, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 82, Rochester 67 Game 3: April 15, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 74, Minneapolis 60 Game 4: April 18, 1948 @ Rochester: Minneapolis 75, Rochester 65 Interestingly, this championship series would occur after the 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament was played (which the Lakers would participate in) as opposed to during or before the World Professional Basketball Tournament like the NBL had done in previous years whenever the WPBT had existed as a tournament, which brought further criticism upon NBL commissioner Ward Lambert (this time upon the Royals' end after the Lakers and other NBL teams criticized Lambert earlier on when he allowed for Rochester to do a late buyout trade for center Arnie Risen from the Indianapolis Kautskys) and later led to his subsequent resignation after the season's conclusion once the Lakers, Royals, Kautskys, and Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (alongside failed attempts by the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Toledo Jeeps) all left the NBL for the rivaling BAA (with everyone but the Indianapolis team still being active to this day in the NBA in terms of teams that successfully switched leagues).Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, pp. 198–201 Also, this would become the first official playoff meeting the Lakers would ever have with the Rochester Royals, who are now known as the Sacramento Kings, with them continuing to have a rivalry to this very day. Awards and records George Mikan, NBL MVP, All-NBL First Team, All-Time NBL Teamhttp://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site www.geocities.com October 25, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20050311095835/http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html March 11, 2005 dead Jim Pollard, All-NBL First Team1947-48 NBL Season Summary World Professional Basketball Tournament Shortly prior to the NBL Finals, during the days of April 8-11, the Lakers played in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, with the final eight teams that participated in the event mostly in the final WPBT ever held being in the National Basketball League for a change of pace, with the only other professional team competing being the revived version of the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the American Basketball League (who competed against the Lakers in the quarterfinal round) and the only two independently ran teams being the New York Renaissance and the Bridgeport Newfields, who competed against each other in the quarterfinal round. Initially, there was supposed to have been a championship series between the champions of the National Basketball League (which were the Minneapolis Lakers) and the newly-rivaling Basketball Association of America (which were formerly the older rivaling American Basketball League's own Baltimore Bullets, which was also the BAA's original Baltimore Bullets franchise) in 1948, but that ultimately never came to fruition. Being considered the favorites, they did not disappoint in the first round, blowing out the original American Basketball League's Wilkes-Barre Barons 98–48.Minneapolis Five is top-seeded https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-times-minneapolis-five-is-top/148931343/ 8 June 2024 The Tampa Times Associated Press 7 April 1948 9 Newspapers.com In the semifinal round, the Lakers came out on top against a fellow NBL competing team in the Anderson Duffey Packers, 59–56, behind Mikan's 21 points.Rens to meet Lakers in pro cage playoffs https://www.newspapers.com/article/cumberland-evening-times-rens-to-meet-la/148931876/ 8 June 2024 Cumberland Evening Times INS 10 April 1948 5 Newspapers.com In addition to Mikan, Don Carlson would also score 12 points himself, while Herm Schaefer would pick up 10 points on his end in order for the Lakers to win their semifinal match over Anderson.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 199 In the final WPBT championship game that was ever held, the Lakers defeated the independently owned and ran New York Renaissance 75–71,Jim Peterson Mikan's Foe highly rated https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-mikans-foe-highly-rated/148931570/ 8 June 2024 Minnesota Star Tribune 6 April 1948 15 Newspapers.com behind George Mikan's tournament record 40 points (breaking a record of 32 points previously set in the 1944 event during the semifinal round by Bob Tough of the Brooklyn Eagles there). Mikan led all scorers with 83 points scored in three games played and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Along with Mikan, Jim Pollard was named to the All-Tournament First Team.Lakers beat Rens 75-71 and cop title https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99115966/ 5 April 2022 Journal and Courier 12 April 1948 8 Newspapers.com Sid Hartman Lakers dominated pro meet in all phases https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99115994/ 5 April 2022 Times, the Picture Paper 26–30 Newspapers.com This final championship also made the Minneapolis Lakers in their first season under that name become the third and final team to win both the NBL's championship and the WPBT's championship in the same season, joining the Oshkosh All-Stars from the 1941–42 season and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in both 1944 and 1945 as the only NBL teams to claim the same honor that these Lakers had done. Games Won quarterfinal round (98–48) over Wilkes-Barre Barons Won semifinal round (59–56) over Anderson Duffey Packers Won final WPBT championship round (75–71) over New York Renaissance Awards and records George Mikan, All-Tournament First Team, MVP, leading scorer Jim Pollard, All-Tournament First Team References Category:Los Angeles Lakers seasons Minneapolis Category:National Basketball League (United States) championship seasons Minnesota Lakers Minnesota Lakers