NBA History & Geography Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

The Hawks began their existence in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, playing their home games in East Moline's Wharton Fieldhouse. By 1951, the name had shortened to Hawks, and the franchise moved to Milwaukee, WI. In 1955 they called St. Louis, MO their home, and made the move to Atlanta in 1968. Among their famous stars of yesteryear were Don Otten, Bob Pettit, and Lenny Wilkens.

Answer: Oakland, CA

This club began as the Rochester Royals in 1948, moving to Cincinnati in 1957, and to Kansas City, where they became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings (of the Road) in 1972. Playing most of their home games in Kansas City,MO, with a few in Omaha, they made the move to Sacramento in 1985.

Answer: San Diego, CA

The expansion franchise placed in San Diego, CA was named the Rockets, and played there from 1967 through 1971, when they fittingly moved to Houston, TX. The other cities mentioned have college teams named Rockets.

Answer: Buffalo Braves

The Buffalo Braves were an expansion franchise that joined the NBA in 1970, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Portland Trail Blazers. The club left Buffalo in 1978 and moved to San Diego, CA where they were known as the San Diego Clippers (no relation to the Conquistadors of the old ABA).In 1984, they moved to Los Angeles and became the L.A. Clippers.

Answer: Washington Senators

The NBA's first true "expansion" team was placed in Chicago in 1961 and dubbed the Packers (presumably as homage to the city's meatpacking history). Possibly because of Windy City sports fans dislike of a rival football team with the same name, they stayed away from the decrepit Chicago Coliseum in droves.

A name change the next year to the Zephyrs didn't help, and the club picked up and moved to Baltimore after only 2 seasons in Chicago, where they resurrected the name Baltimore Bullets from a club that had played there in the early '50's. Washington Senators was the name of the baseball team that is now the Texas Rangers.

Answer: Syracuse Nationals

The Syracuse Nationals were a charter member of the NBA, participating in the nation's biggest pro-basketball league from 1946 through 1963, when they moved the franchise to Philadelphia. Philadelphia was also one of the league's charter cities with the Warriors, but when they moved to San Francisco the previous year, it left a vacancy in the City of Brotherly Love which got filled by the Nationals renaming themselves the 76ers.

Answer: New Orleans Jazz

The aptly named New Orleans Jazz were an NBA expansion franchise started in the Crescent City in 1974. They featured local hero Pistol Pete Maravich of LSU, but the owners looked west for greener (?) pastures and moved the franchise to Salt Lake City in 1979, where they became the incongruously named Utah Jazz.

Answer: Seattle Supersonics

The Seattle Supersonics were never part of the ABA. They started in the NBA in 1970, and played in the Pacific Northwest until moving to Oklahoma City more recently and becoming the Thunder. The other three clubs listed were all ABA clubs who, along with Denver were absorbed into the NBA in the 1976 merger.

Answer: Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons

The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons were one of many "industrial" basketball teams in the American mid-west which were owned by industrial companies providing publicity for the company, and in many cases jobs for the players who, believe it or not, didn't make enough from basketball to live on year round.

In the "semi-pro" era of American basketball, they actually pre-dated the formation of the NBA. Still owned by Fred Zollner's Piston company, they joined the NBA in 1949 as the Fort Wayne Pistons. They played in Ft. Wayne's War Memorial Coliseum for 8 seasons until moving to the Motor City in 1957.

Answer: Philadelphia, PA

The Philadelphia Warriors were one of the original members of the NBA, and featured such hometown greats as Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Arizin, and Tom Gola. Perennially in the championship hunt, they were well supported in one of the nation's greatest basketball cities, but ownership just couldn't resist the lure of the West Coast sports market, and moved the club to San Francisco in 1962 just in time to sign Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond, who became their superstar for the next decade.