The team's signature song is Brother Bones' whistled version of "Sweet Georgia Brown", and their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named "Globie".

In a heavily attended matchup a few years later, the 1948 Globetrotters–Lakers game, the Globetrotters made headlines when they beat one of the best white basketball teams in the country, the Minneapolis Lakers.

The Globetrotters continued to easily win games due to Harlem monopolizing the entire talent pool of the best black basketball players in the country.

[7][8] The Globetrotters gradually worked comic routines into their act—a direction the team has credited to Reece "Goose" Tatum,[9] who joined in 1941—and eventually became known more for entertainment than sports.

[14] The team, which included Wilt Chamberlain, was welcomed enthusiastically by spectators and authorities, and they met Premier Nikita Khrushchev[15] and collectively received the Athletic Order of Lenin medal.

[16] According to one report titled "Russians Baffled by Harlem Fun", however, spectators were initially confused: "A Soviet audience of 14,000 sat almost silently, as if in awe, through the first half of the game.

[14] A review in state-run Pravda stated, "This is not basketball; it is too full of tricks" but praised the Globetrotters' skills and suggested that "they have some techniques to show us".

Greats such as "Wee" Willie Gardner, Connie "the Hawk" Hawkins, Wilt "the Stilt" Chamberlain, and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton later joined the NBA.

[24] Because nearly all of the team's players have been black, and as a result of the buffoonery involved in many of the Globetrotters' skits, they drew some criticism during the Civil Rights era.

Being drafted by the Globetrotters does not guarantee a spot on the team, although several drafted players have gone on to become Globetrotters: Anthony "Ant" Atkinson (2007), Brent Petway (2007), William "Bull" Bullard (2008), Tay "Firefly" Fisher (2008), Charlie Coley III (2009), Paul "Tiny" Sturgess (2011), Jacob "Hops" Tucker (2011), Darnell "Spider" Wilks (2011), Bryan "B-Nice" Narcisse (2012), Tyrone Davis (2013), Corey "Thunder" Law (2013), Tyler "Iceman" Inman (2014) Devan "Beast" Douglas (2016), and AJ "Money" Merriweather.

[39] Other notable draft picks by the Globetrotters include: Sun Mingming (2007), Patrick Ewing Jr. (2008), Sonny Weems (2008), Taylor Griffin (2009), Tim Howard (2009), Mark Titus (2010), Lionel Messi (2011), Jordan McCabe, then 12 years old (2011), Andrew Goudelock (2011), Usain Bolt (2012), Mariano Rivera (2013), Brittney Griner (2013), Johnny Manziel (2014), Landon Donovan (2014), Mo'ne Davis (2015), Dude Perfect (2015), Kevin Hart (2016), Neymar (2016), Missy Franklin (2016), Jordan Spieth (2016), Craig Sager (2016), Gal Gadot (2017), Aaron Judge (2017), Tim Tebow (2017), Paul Pogba (2018), Joseph Kilgore (2018), Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (2018), Mahershala Ali (2019), Mookie Betts (2020), and Chadwick Boseman (2020).