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. Since 2024, the team plays its home games at Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland,^[5][6] though to begin the 2024–25 season, home games were played at Rocket Arena (home of the Cavaliers) due to renovations at Public Auditorium.

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	Public Auditorium Rocket Arena (temporary)
Location	Cleveland, Ohio
Team colors	Wine, gold, black, white[1][2][3]
Team manager	Brendon Yu[4]
Head coach	Chris Darnell
Ownership	Cleveland Cavaliers
Affiliation(s)	Cleveland Cavaliers
Championships	1 (2006)
Division/Conference titles	1 (2013)
Website	cleveland.gleague.nba.com

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.

History

Huntsville

The team was formed in 2001 as the Huntsville Flight based in Huntsville, Alabama, as a founding member of the NBA Development League, the affiliate minor league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They played home games at the Von Braun Center. In their first two seasons, they failed to make the playoffs, but in their third they reached the NBA D-League Finals, losing to the Asheville Altitude. The team ended its tenure in Alabama at the conclusion of the 2004–05 season after finishing third in the league and making the playoffs. The Flight were not affiliated with an NBA team.

Albuquerque

The team moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became the Albuquerque Thunderbirds beginning in the 2005–06 season.^[7] They played home games at Tingley Coliseum. In their first season in New Mexico, the team won the 2006 NBA D-League Championship by defeating the Fort Worth Flyers in the championship game. In the 2006–07 season, they again made the playoffs, but were defeated by the Colorado 14ers. The Thunderbirds moved in 2010 to the Santa Ana Star Center in suburban Rio Rancho and were re-branded as the New Mexico Thunderbirds. They played just one season in Rio Rancho, finishing ninth and failing to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. The Thunderbirds were affiliates of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics and Utah Jazz.^[8][9][10]

Canton

Logo used from 2011 to 2021 when the team was based in Canton.

It was announced on July 7, 2011, the Thunderbirds had been purchased by the Cleveland Cavaliers and were moving to Canton, Ohio, for the 2011–12 season.^[7] Alex Jensen was named the first head coach of the Charge on October 11. On October 13, the Canton Charge name, logo, colors, and court design were unveiled.^[11] On October 20, the team announced the first two players of the new team: Keith McLeod and Jamine Peterson.^[12] On October 25, the new uniforms were released.^[13] In the 2011 NBA D-League Draft, the Canton Charge selected Tyrell Biggs in the first round.^[14] In their first game as the Canton Charge, they were defeated by the 2010–11 champions Iowa Energy in an 100–82 game at home.^[15] Their first win came against the Texas Legends in their third game, which they won by 108–87.^[16]

Steve Hetzel was named head coach on September 11, 2013, for 2013–14.^[17]

Cleveland

The team's 10-year lease with the Canton Memorial Civic Center expired following the single-site and abbreviated 2020–21 season where the Charge had played in Orlando, Florida, within the G League bubble due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The Cavaliers chose not to renew the lease in Canton and instead relocated the team to downtown Cleveland to play at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center beginning with the 2021–22 season.^[18] The team was officially announced as the Cleveland Charge on July 26, 2021, with the team's logos and branding being largely unchanged other than the switch from Canton to Cleveland in the logo. In September 2021, Charge head coach Nate Reinking became an assistant with the Cavaliers and Cavs' assistant Dan Geriot took over as Charge head coach.^[19]

In September 2022, it was announced that Cavaliers assistant Mike Gerrity would take over as head coach of the Charge, trading places with Geriot.^[20]

On June 4, 2024, the Charge announced they would be moving their home games to the nearby Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland, leaving the Wolstein Center after three seasons.^[5]

Logos and uniforms

Huntsville Flight

The first logo of the team, when it still was the Huntsville Flight, consisted of a yellow basketball with a red fighter aircraft flying around the ball, and below it was written "Huntsville" in blue and "Flight" in yellow. Their colors were red, yellow, navy and white. The home uniform was white with "Huntsville" and the numbers written in red, near the arm and in the neck there were black and navy little lines. Their away uniform was similar, but it was red instead of white and the numbers in yellow.

Albuquerque/New Mexico Thunderbirds

Their logo as Albuquerque and New Mexico was the same, with just one difference, the name written below the logo. The logo consisted on a bird black head, with a basketball in its claw. Their colors were dark yellow, black, white and orange. As New Mexico, they removed the orange color and replaced with grey. Their home uniform was white, with "Thunderbirds" and the numbers written in orange, and black details on the side of the jersey. The away uniform was orange, with black details, and letters ("Albuquerque") in white. As New Mexico, it had a little change; the away uniform used "T-Birds" instead of "New Mexico".

Canton Charge

Malik Newman in 2020

Under the Cleveland Cavaliers ownership, the Charge adopted a similar style. The logo consists of a musketeer style soldier, with his sword pointing forward, and below him there is written "Canton Charge" in gold and white. The musketeer hat is wine and his clothes are gold. Their colors are wine, gold and white. They have an alternate logo, similar to the "C Sword Logo" from the Cavaliers, with a sword crossing a "C". Their original home uniform was gold with details, "Charge" and the numbers written in wine. The original away uniform was the same, only with the colors swapped. When Nike took over supplying uniforms for the NBA G League for the 2017–18 season, the Charge adopted a white uniform with wine letters and gold number accents while tweaking their wine uniform set to feature navy numbers with gold accents and lettering.

Home arenas

• Von Braun Center (2001–2005)
• Tingley Coliseum (2005–2010)
• Santa Ana Star Center (2010–2011)
• Canton Memorial Civic Center (2011–2020)^[21]
• Wolstein Center (2021–2024)
• Public Auditorium (2024–present)^[22]

Season-by-season

Season	Division	Regular season				Playoffs
		Finish	Wins	Losses	Pct.
Huntsville Flight
2001–02		5th	26	30	.464
2002–03		8th	22	28	.440
2003–04		3rd	24	22	.522	Won Semifinals (Charleston) 108–100 Lost D-League Finals (Asheville) 106–108
2004–05		3rd	27	21	.563	Lost Semifinals (Asheville) 86–90
Albuquerque Thunderbirds
2005–06		2nd	26	22	.542	Won Semifinals (Florida) 80–71 Won D-League Finals (Fort Worth) 119–108
2006–07	Western	3rd	24	26	.480	Lost Semifinals (Colorado) 100–130
2007–08	Southwestern	4th	22	28	.440
2008–09	Southwestern	3rd	24	26	.480
2009–10	Western	7th	18	32	.360
New Mexico Thunderbirds
2010–11	Western	9th	20	30	.400
Canton Charge
2011–12	Eastern	4th	27	23	.540	Won First Round (Springfield) 2–1 Lost Semifinals (Austin) 1–2
2012–13	Eastern	1st	30	20	.600	Lost First Round (Tulsa) 1–2
2013–14	Eastern	2nd	28	22	.560	Lost First Round (Sioux Falls) 1–2
2014–15	Atlantic	2nd	31	19	.620	Won First Round (Sioux Falls) 2–1 Lost Semifinals (Fort Wayne) 0–2
2015–16	Central	2nd	31	19	.620	Won First Round (Maine) 2–0 Lost Semifinals (Sioux Falls) 0–2
2016–17	Central	3rd	29	21	.580	Lost First Round (Raptors) 0–2
2017–18	Central	4th	22	28	.440
2018–19	Central	4th	22	28	.440
2019–20	Central	2nd	29	14	.674	Season cancelled by COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21	—	14th	5	10	.333
Cleveland Charge
2021–22	Eastern	15th	6	26	.188
2022–23	Eastern	5th	18	14	.563	Won Quarterfinals (Maine) 113–100 Lost Semifinals (Long Island) 107–111
2023–24	Eastern	11th	15	19	.441
Regular season			526	538	.494	2001–present
Playoffs			13	18	.419	2001–present

Current roster

Cleveland Charge roster

• v
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Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From F 15 Babatunde Akingbola 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1999-10-25 George Washington F 6 Warith Alatishe 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2000-01-22 Oregon State G/F 21 Emoni Bates (TW) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2004-01-28 Eastern Michigan G 5 Jules Bernard 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2000-01-21 UCLA G 10 Darius II Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 1999-07-28 Utah State F 7 Elijah Hughes 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1998-03-10 Syracuse F 44 Feron Hunt 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-07-05 SMU G 1 London Johnson (P) 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 181 lb (82 kg) 2004-06-06 Norcross HS (GA) G 13 Sean McNeil 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1998-08-17 Ohio State G -- Isaiah Moore 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 163 lb (74 kg) 2000-02-19 South Alabama F 3 Gabe Osabuohien 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1998-10-27 West Virginia F 35 Nae'Qwan Tomlin (TW) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2000-12-10 Memphis G/F 33 Luke Travers (TW) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 207 lb (94 kg) 2001-09-03 Australia

Head coach Chris Darnell Assistant(s) Antoine Broxsie Sam Clancy Jr. Doron Perkins Dan Vincent (Associate HC) Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (P) Prospects (NBA) On assignment from NBA affiliate (TW) Two-way affiliate player Injured Roster Updated: March 11, 2025

Head coaches

#	Head coach	Term	Regular season				Playoffs				Achievements
			G	W	L	Win%	G	W	L	Win%
1	Bob Thornton	2001–2002	56	26	30	.464	–	–	–	–
2	Ralph Lewis	2002–2005	144	73	71	.507	3	1	2	.333
3	Michael Cooper	2005–2007	98	50	48	.510	3	2	1	.667	NBA D-League champion (2006)
4	Jeff Ruland	2007–2008	50	22	28	.440	—	—	—	—
5	John Coffino	2008–2010	100	42	58	.420	—	—	—	—
6	Darvin Ham	2010–2011	50	20	30	.400	—	—	—	—
7	Alex Jensen	2011–2013	100	57	43	.570	9	4	5	.444
8	Steve Hetzel	2013–2014	50	28	22	.560	3	1	2	.333
9	Jordi Fernández	2014–2016	100	62	38	.620	10	5	5	.500
10	Nate Reinking	2016–2021	208	107	101	.514	2	0	2	.000
11	Dan Geriot	2021–2022	32	6	26	.188	—	—	—	—
12	Mike Gerrity	2022–present	32	18	14	.563	2	1	1	.500

NBA affiliates

During the franchise's time in Huntsville, from 2001 to 2005, it did not have an official affiliation with any NBA team. Since 2005, the Charge franchise has been affiliated with 11 NBA teams for various amounts of time. Until the purchase by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2011, the Charge franchise had affiliations with at least two NBA teams per season, with as many as four affiliations during the 2005–06 season.

• Sacramento Kings (2005–2006)
• Seattle SuperSonics (2005–2006)
• Utah Jazz (2005–2006)
• Phoenix Suns (2005–2008)
• Cleveland Cavaliers (2006–2007)
• Indiana Pacers (2006–2007)
• Philadelphia 76ers (2007–2008)
• Miami Heat (2008–2009)
• Dallas Mavericks (2008–2010)
• New Orleans Hornets (2009–2011)
• Orlando Magic (2010–2011)
• Cleveland Cavaliers (2011–present)

Media

Charge games are heard online via the iHeart owned NEO Sports Radio.^[23]