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{{About|the Basketball Association of America team from 1946 to 1951|the current National Hockey League team|Washington Capitals|the American Basketball Association team from 1969 to 1970|Washington Caps}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2010}}
{{Infobox basketball club
| logo = Washington Capitols logo.svg
| imagesize = 200px
| name = Washington Capitols
| division = [[Eastern Division (NBA)|Eastern]]
| founded = 1946
| folded = 1952
| history = '''Washington Capitols'''<br>1946–1952
| city = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| arena = [[Uline Arena]]
| colors = Green, white<br>{{Color box|#008348}} {{Color box|#FFFFFF}}
| div_champs = '''2''' ({{nbay|1946|end}}, {{nbay|1948|end}})
}}

The '''Washington Capitols''' were a former [[Basketball Association of America]] (forerunner of the [[National Basketball Association]]) team based in [[Washington, D.C.]] from 1946 to 1951. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer [[Red Auerbach]].

==History==
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}
The team was founded in 1946 as a charter BAA team; it became a charter NBA team in 1949. It folded on January 9, 1951 (with a 10–25 record).

The Capitols were one of seven teams that quickly left the NBA: The NBA contracted after the 1949–1950 season, losing six teams: The [[Anderson Packers]], [[Sheboygan Red Skins]] and [[Waterloo Hawks]] jumped to the [[National Professional Basketball League (1950–1951)|NPBL]], while the [[Chicago Stags]], [[Denver Nuggets (1948–1950)|Denver Nuggets]] and [[St. Louis Bombers (NBA)|St. Louis Bombers]] folded.  The league went from 17 teams to 11 before the 1950–1951 season started. Midway through the 1950–1951 season, the Washington Capitols folded as well, bringing the number of teams in the league down to ten.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1950.html|title=1949-50 NBA Season Summary|website=Basketball-Reference.com}}</ref>

[[Earl Lloyd]], the first African American athlete to play for an NBA team, debuted for the Capitols in Rochester, New York on October 31, 1950.<ref name="Hsu">{{cite news| title=History Buffs Fight to Save Uline Arena; Coliseum Hosted Dylan, Beatles and Malcolm X|author=Spencer S. Hsu|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 12, 2003|id = {{ProQuest|409539211}}}}</ref>

The franchise played the 1951–52 season in the [[American Basketball League (1925–55)|American Basketball League]], but the team folded again in January, 1952.<ref>https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ABLWAC/y-1951</ref> The main reason why the team folded for the second time was related to them and the ABL being sued by the NBA if the new Capitols tried to take the NBA team name's history from them as well.<ref>https://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/Xdefunct/WashingtonCapitols/index.html</ref>

The teams wore green and white.  The NBA returned to the Washington, D.C. area in [[1973–74 NBA season|1973]], when the [[Baltimore Bullets (1963–73)|Baltimore Bullets]] became the Capital Bullets, now known as the [[Washington Wizards]].

The Capitols' 81.7 win percentage in the BAA's inaugural season was the highest in the NBA until surpassed by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966–67. The Capitols captured two Divisional Championships: ([[1946–47 BAA season|1946–47]] and [[1948–49 BAA season|1948–49]]) and made the playoffs in ([[1946–47 BAA season|1947]], [[1947–48 BAA season|1948]] tie-breaker, [[1948–49 BAA season|1949]] and [[1949–50 NBA season|1950]]).

==Winning streaks==

The Washington Capitols are also noteworthy for two long win streaks during their short history.  In 1946, the Capitols won [[List of National Basketball Association longest winning streaks|17 straight games]] — a single season streak that remained the NBA's longest until 1969.  The 15–0 start of the 1948–49 team was the best in NBA history until the [[Golden State Warriors]] broke it in [[2015–16 NBA season|2015–16]] by starting 24–0, though the [[Houston Rockets]] had previously tied the Capitols' record in [[1993–94 NBA season|1993–94]], and later, tied by the [[Cleveland Cavaliers]] in [[2024–25 NBA season|2024–25]].

==The arena==
The Capitols played in historic [[Uline Arena]], located at 1132, 1140, and 1146 3rd St. NE, Washington, District of Columbia. The capacity was 7,500. The facility still exists and has been repurposed into retail and office space.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://douglasdevelopment.com/properties/uline-arena/|title=Uline Arena - Douglas Development|website=douglasdevelopment.com}}</ref>

==Players of note==
===Basketball Hall of Fame===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NBA color cell|Washington Capitols}};"|Washington Capitols Hall of Famers
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NBA color cell2|Washington Capitols}}";"|Players
|-
! No. !! Name !! Position !! Tenure !! Inducted
|-
| '''10''' || [[Bill Sharman]] || [[Guard (basketball)|G]] || 1950–1951 || 1976
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NBA color cell2|Washington Capitols}}";"|Coaches
|-
! colspan="2"|Name !! Position !! Tenure !! Inducted
|-
| colspan="2"|[[Red Auerbach]] || Head coach || 1947–1949 || 1969

|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NBA color cell2|Washington Capitols}}";"|Contributors
|-
! colspan="2"|Name !! Position !! Tenure !! Inducted
|-
| colspan="2"|[[Earl Lloyd]] <sup>1</sup> || [[Forward (basketball)|F]] || 1950–1951 || 2003
|}
'''Notes:'''
* <sup>1</sup> Lloyd was inducted as a contributor as the first African American player and bench coach in the NBA.<ref name="Lloyd">{{cite web|title=Earl Lloyd|url=http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/earl-lloyd/|website=Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame|access-date=April 11, 2019}}</ref>

===Notable alumni===
* [[Gene Gallette]] (1946–1947)
* [[Jack Nichols (basketball)|Jack Nichols]] (1949–1950)
* [[Don Otten]] (1949–1951)
* [[Fred Scolari]] (1946–1951)

==Leading scorers by season==
*1947 – [[Bob Feerick]] – 16.8 ppg
*1948 – Bob Feerick – 16.1 ppg
*1949 – Bob Feerick – 13.0 ppg
*1950 – [[Don Otten]] – 14.9 ppg (in 18 games. [[Jack Nichols (basketball player)|Jack Nichols]] scored 13.1 over 49 games, but [[Fred Scolari]] scored the most points, with 860 in 66 games.)
*1951 – [[Bill Sharman]] – 12.2 ppg

==Coaches and others==
*1947–1949 – [[Red Auerbach]]
*1950 – [[Bob Feerick]] – player-coach
*1951 – [[Bones McKinney]] – player-coach
*1950 – [[Earl Lloyd]] – first African American to play in the NBA

==Season-by-season records==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| style="background:#fcc;"|<small>'''[[List of NBA champions|BAA/NBA champions]]''' </small>
| style="background:#d0e7ff;"|<small>'''Division champions'''</small>
| style="background:#96cdcd;"|<small>'''Playoff berth'''</small>
|}

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%"
|-
!scope="col"| Season
!scope="col"| League
!scope="col"| [[Division (sport)|Division]]
!scope="col"| Finish
!scope="col"| Wins
!scope="col"| Losses
!scope="col"| [[Winning percentage|Win%]]
!scope="col"| [[Games behind|GB]]
!scope="col"| [[NBA playoffs|Playoffs]]
!scope="col"| [[National Basketball Association awards|Awards]]
|-
|- 
| [[1946–47 Washington Capitols season|1946–47]] || [[National Basketball Association|BAA]] || bgcolor=#d0e7ff|'''[[Eastern Division (NBA)|Eastern]]''' ||bgcolor=#d0e7ff|'''1st''' {{dagger}} || 49 || 11 || {{winpct|49|11}} || — || Lost [[1947 BAA Playoffs|BAA Semifinals]] ([[Chicago Stags|Stags]]) 2–4 ||
|-
| [[1947–48 Washington Capitols season|1947–48]] || BAA || [[Western Division (NBA)|Western]] ||bgcolor=#96cdcd|4th || 28 || 20 || {{winpct|28|20}} || 1 || Lost [[1948 BAA Playoffs|Division Tiebreaker]] ([[Chicago Stags|Stags]]) ||
|-
| [[1948–49 Washington Capitols season|1948–49]] || BAA || bgcolor=#d0e7ff|'''Eastern''' ||bgcolor=#d0e7ff|'''1st''' || 38 || 22 || {{winpct|38|22}} || — ||'''Won''' [[1949 BAA Playoffs|Division semifinals]] ([[Golden State Warriors|Warriors]]) 2–0<br> '''Won''' [[1949 BAA Playoffs|Division finals]] ([[New York Knicks|Knicks]]) 2–1<br> Lost [[1949 BAA Finals|BAA Finals]] ([[Los Angeles Lakers|Lakers]]) 2–4 ||
|-
| [[1949–50 Washington Capitols season|1949–50]] || NBA || Eastern ||bgcolor=#96cdcd|3rd || 32 || 36 || {{winpct|32|36}} || 21 || Lost [[1950 NBA Playoffs|Division semifinals]] ([[New York Knicks|Knicks]]) 0–2 ||
|-
| [[1950–51 Washington Capitols season|1950–51]] {{double-dagger}} || NBA || Eastern || 6th || 10 || 25 || {{winpct|10|25}} || 30 || ||
|-
!colspan="4"| Regular season record || 157 || 114 || {{winpct|157|114}} ||colspan="3"| 1946–1951
|-
!colspan="4"| Playoff record || 8 || 12 || {{winpct|8|12}} ||colspan="3"| Postseason Series Record: 2–4
|}

{{dagger}} The inaugural [[1947 BAA Playoffs]] did not establish Eastern and Western champions and generated one finalist from the East, one from the West, only by coincidence. Washington and Chicago won the Eastern and Western Divisions and met in a best-of-seven series to determine one league championship finalist. (Washington lost the first two games, both at home, by 16 points each and lost the series four games to two; every game but the last was decided by at least 10 points.) Meanwhile, four runners-up played best-of-three matches to determine the other finalist. Philadelphia, second in the East, won that runners-up bracket and defeated Chicago in a best-of-seven series to win the BAA championship.<ref>[https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/BAA_1947.html "1946–47 BAA Season Summary"]. Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-01.</ref>

{{double-dagger}} The Capitols folded midway during the season on January 9, 1951.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/Xdefunct/WashingtonCapitols/index.html Washington Capitols history]
*[https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/WSC/ Team page] at Basketball-reference.com

{{NBAdefunct}}

[[Category:Washington Capitols]]
[[Category:Basketball Association of America teams]]
[[Category:Defunct NBA teams]]
[[Category:American Basketball League (1925–1955) teams]]
[[Category:Basketball teams in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Basketball teams established in 1946]]
[[Category:Basketball teams disestablished in 1951]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1951 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.]]