The Kansas City Knights were an
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...
minor league
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
team based in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
. They have not played since the 2004–05 season.
Franchise history
The Knights were one of the ABA's charter franchises and began play during the 2000–01 season. In 2001–02, the following season, the Knights posted a league best 35–5 record that year and ended up winning the ABA championship under head coach and
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
alumnus
Kevin Pritchard
Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and w ...
.
Soon after winning the title, the ABA took the year off to re-organize. The ABA then resumed play in the 2003–2004 season. The Knights competed in the ABA for the 2003–04 and the 2004-05 seasons before going dark for 2005–06. It was announced via a press release on the team's website that the team would suspend operations until a suburban arena was built in Johnson County, KS. The team intended to play at an interim location once ground was broken on the new arena, but plans for the arena remain in limbo and there has been no word from the team's owners since. However, operation of the youth developmental "Knights Academy" program is ongoing.
Since the Knights folded, several ABA teams have appeared and disappeared in the Kansas City area. None of these teams are related to the Knights or have been as successful. The most recent ABA team in the Kansas City area was the
Kansas City Soul, who folded in 2014.
Players of note
*
Jason Sasser
*
Nick Bradford
*
Antoine Carr
Antoine Labotte Carr (born July 23, 1961) is an American former basketball player. Nicknamed "Big Dawg", he played power forward (and sometimes center) for six different teams in the National Basketball Association across 16 seasons.
Early life ...
*
Maurice Carter
*
Joe Crispin
*
Eddie Gill
*
Anthony Goldwire
*Derek "Buck" Grimm
*
Pete Mickeal
*Ryan Sears
*
Paul Shirley
*
Doug Smith
*
David Vanterpool
*
Rex Walters
Rex Andrew Walters Sr. (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the asso ...
*
Jeff Boschee
*Jeff Graves
*Daniel Coulson
*Ernest Brown
References
{{Reflist
Defunct American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams
Defunct basketball teams in the United States
Knights
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
2000 establishments in Missouri
2004 disestablishments in Missouri
Basketball teams established in 2000
Basketball teams disestablished in 2004