Kansas City Knights

The Kansas City Knights was the name of an American Basketball Association minor league basketball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They have not played since the 2004/2005 season.:Founded: 2000:Team Owner: Jim Clark:Head Coach: Bob Sundvold :Home Arenas: Kemper Arena, Hale Arena:Uniform colors::ABA Championships: 2001-2002

Franchise History

The Knights were one of the ABA's charter franchises and began play during the 2000-01 season. In 2001-2002, 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 alumnus Kevin Pritchard.

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.

The American Basketball Association announced that it will return to Kansas City, Missouri this season under new ownership. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, "We have been waiting for the right ownership to return to KC. And we've found him in Kansas City native Milton Thomas. Kansas City has a great ABA heritage and we believe that Milton can bring it back with gusto." [
url=http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2008061806001
date=2008-06-26]

Players of note

*Nick Bradford
*Maurice Carter
*Joe Crispin
*Eddie Gill
*Anthony Goldwire
*Derek "Buck" Grimm
*Pete Mickeal
*Ryan Sears
*Paul Shirley
*Doug Smith
*David Vanterpool
*Rex Walters
*Jeff Boschee
*Jeff Graves

External links

* [http://www.knightball.com/ Kansas City Knights Official Website]
* [http://www.knightsacademy.net/ Knights Academy Website]

References