Long ago Abe Saperstein acquired the Savoy Ball Boys and re-labeled them the Harlem Globetrotters.
For him, they were nothing but actors on a wooden floor rather than on a Broadway stage. whose sole purpose was to generate laughs. Nothing has changed since then!
Nevertheless, the Globies were probably the best pro bball players in the world until the BAA-NBA got going in the late forties.
They even had games against the Minneapolis Lakers starting in 1948 wherein the Globies won their first two games. The Globies mostly played serious ball and ditched a lot of their regular comedy routines. They won the first game at the buzzer by two points and won the next game by four points. The Lakers won the next six games, and they never played anymore.
At that time the NBA was not integrated, so the Globies got most of the best black players. After the league was integrated in 1950 the NBA started to get the best black players.
By the sixties the Globies could not compete with any NBA team.
BTW....There are still many people who think the Globies are the best players in the world. Many years ago I got into an argument with the father of one boy whose grade school team I was helping coach.
The father claimed the Globies could beat any NBA team easily. I knew they'd get crushed, but after a few words back and forth I let it go. People will believe what they want to believe.