Detroit Gems

From Hoopedia

The Detroit Gems, a professional basketball team that played one season in the National Basketball League, 1946-47. The team was owned by a Dearborn jewelry store owner, Maury Winston. His associates were King Borning and Ben Maron, the latter who served as coach.

Detroit had a disastrous season, compiling a 4-40 record. At the end of the season Winston disbanded the team. He then sold the franchise for $15,000 to two Minneapolis businessmen, Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen. There was not much left of the franchise, as the new owners received only some equipment and a piece of paper giving them ownership of an NBL team. No players were included in the transaction, as all the Gems players had been reassigned by the NFL to other teams in the league. The new owners moved the franchise to Minneapolis and renamed the team Minneapolis Lakers.