Cleveland Charge
The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland.
| Cleveland Charge | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Eastern |
| League | NBA G League |
| Founded | 2001 |
| History | Huntsville Flight 2001–2005 Albuquerque Thunderbirds 2005–2010 New Mexico Thunderbirds 2010–2011 Canton Charge 2011–2021 Cleveland Charge 2021–present |
| Arena | Wolstein Center |
| Location | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Team colors | Wine, gold, white |
| Team manager | Brendon Yu |
| Head coach | Mike Gerrity |
| Ownership | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Affiliation(s) | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Championships | 1 (2006) |
| Division/Conference titles | 1 (2013) |
| Website | cleveland |
The franchise was founded in 2001 as the Huntsville Flight, based in Huntsville, Alabama, before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2005, where they were known as the Albuquerque Thunderbirds until 2010. After playing the 2010–11 season in suburban Rio Rancho as the New Mexico Thunderbirds, the franchise was purchased by the Cavaliers and relocated to Canton, Ohio, where they played as the Canton Charge through the 2020–21 season.
The team has made the championship finals twice, once when playing in Huntsville and the other time when playing in Albuquerque; the team lost in 2004 and won the title in 2006. Since the move to Ohio, they have reached the semifinal round three times in 2012, 2015, and 2016. They are one of three surviving teams from the original eight that first played in the 2001-02 season, and are also one of only four teams to reach the playoffs at least ten times in league history.