The 1982–83 NBA season was the 37th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Philadelphia 76ers winning the NBA Championship, sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals.
The 1983 NBA All-Star Game was played at the The Forum in Inglewood, California, with the East defeating the West 132–123. Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers won the game's MVP award. It was at this game that R&B singer Marvin Gaye performed his famous rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner".
This season marked the final season for Larry O'Brien as commissioner of the NBA. In honor of his long tenure, the NBA would rename its championship trophy after him (it was originally named after the late Boston Celtics owner Walter A. Brown).
The USA Network extended their cable deal with the NBA for another two years, and ESPN shared broadcast rights with them.
The 76ers posted a 12–1 record in the playoffs, a record for highest winning percentage in the postseason (since broken by the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers).
The Boston Celtics were swept for the first time in their playoff history, at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks in the Conference Semifinals of the 1983 NBA Playoffs. The Bucks swept the Celtics 4–0.
The 1983 NBA Finals was the last Finals to end before June 1.
This was the final season for Wilson serving as the suppliers of the official NBA game ball; it was replaced in that capacity by Spalding in the following season, which has supplied the game balls to the league since then.
Ted Stepien sold the Cleveland Cavaliers to Gordon Gund. Under Stepien, attendance at the Cavaliers' home arena at Richfield Coliseum declined, first-round picks were traded in consecutive years (which led the NBA to institute the Ted Stepien rule), and long-time announcer Joe Tait was fired (he returned following the Gund purchase). The Cavaliers had five different coaches and three consecutive losing seasons under Stepien.
On November 3, 1982, Randy Smith played in his 845th consecutive NBA game, breaking Johnny Kerr's iron man record. The game was a 130–111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in which Smith started and scored 14 points. Smith's iron man streak ended at 906 games when he played his last game with the Clippers on March 13, 1983 and was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. The record was later surpassed by A. C. Green in 1997.
Notes
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs and first round bye
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs and first round bye
y – Clinched division title and first round bye
x – Clinched playoff spot
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
Most Valuable Player: Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
Rookie of the Year: Terry Cummings, San Diego Clippers
Defensive Player of the Year: Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
Sixth Man of the Year: Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers
Coach of the Year: Don Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks
All-NBA First Team:
Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
Julius Erving, Philadelphia 76ers
Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
All-NBA Rookie Team:
James Worthy, Los Angeles Lakers
Quintin Dailey, Chicago Bulls
Terry Cummings, San Diego Clippers
Clark Kellogg, Indiana Pacers
Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks
NBA All-Defensive First Team:
Bobby Jones, Philadelphia 76ers
Dan Roundfield, Atlanta Hawks
Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers
Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee Bucks
Dennis Johnson, Phoenix Suns (tie)
Maurice Cheeks, Philadelphia 76ers (tie)
NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics
Wayne Rollins, Atlanta Hawks
Michael Cooper, Los Angeles Lakers
T. R. Dunn, Denver Nuggets
Note: All information on this page were obtained on the History section on NBA.com
The following players were named NBA Player of the Week.
The following players were named NBA Player of the Month.
The following players were named NBA Rookie of the Month.
The following coaches were named NBA Coach of the Month.
