The 1996–97 NBA season was the 51st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league used this season to mark its 50th anniversary, which included the unveiling of the league's list of its 50 greatest players. This particular season featured what has since been acknowledged as one of the most talented rookie-classes, featuring the debuts of Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace and Stephon Marbury. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls defeating the Utah Jazz 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals to win the franchise's 5th championship.
The 1996 NBA lockout was the second lockout of four in the history of the NBA. It lasted for a couple of hours on July 10, 1996. The lockout was imposed after the league and the player's union could not reach an agreement involving $50 million in profit sharing from the television revenue. The league requested 50 percent of those profits to be applied toward player salaries while the union wanted more money to be included. After a few hours of talks, the league agreed to allocate an additional $14 million per season in television revenue toward the salary cap during the last four years of the six-year agreement. The lockout was ended only a few hours after it was announced and the agreement was reached.
The Chicago Bulls narrowly missed back-to-back 70 win seasons, going 69–13, tying the second best all-time record (with the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers season). With four games to play, the Bulls’ record stood at 68–10, only needing a 2–2 split; however, they went 1–3 in those games. In the final game of the regular season, the Bulls lost to the Knicks 103-101 as Scottie Pippen missed a three-pointer that would have given the Bulls back-to-back 70 win seasons. This loss also prevented the Bulls from tying the best home record of 40–1, set by the 1985–86 Boston Celtics, finishing 39–2 at the United Center.
The 1997 NBA All-Star Game was played at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, with the East defeating the West 132-120. Glen Rice of the Charlotte Hornets was named the game's MVP after scoring a record 20 points in the third quarter, and 24 in the second half. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett became the youngest player to play in the All-Star Game.
The New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic both played two games against each other in Tokyo, Japan early into the season.
The Philadelphia 76ers played their first game at the Core States Center (later First Union and Wachovia Center, now Wells Fargo Center).
The Los Angeles Lakers signed free-agent center Shaquille O'Neal. Along with the addition of Kobe Bryant, the duo would become a fixture on the team for eight years, winning three championships together. However, a media created feud would eventually lead to O'Neal being traded to Miami in 2004.
Allen Iverson set a rookie record scoring with forty points or more in five successive games.
Due to extensive renovations at Oakland Coliseum Arena, the Golden State Warriors played their home games at the San Jose Arena (later the HP Pavilion at San Jose, now known as the SAP Center at San Jose), home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks). Following the season, the renovated arena became known as The Arena in Oakland, and was later renamed after the Oracle software company.
Dennis Rodman was suspended for 11 games after kicking a cameraman in a road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after tripping over him.
In the last game of the regular season for both teams, the Washington Bullets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to obtain the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Had Cleveland won, the Cavaliers would have qualified instead. As for the Bullets, this was their final playoff appearance until 2005 where the team was renamed the "Wizards". This is the last time thus far that a regular-season game has served as a direct play-in game to the postseason.
Following a last-second three-point shot by John Stockton in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, the Utah Jazz made their first ever NBA Finals appearance.
The rivalry between the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat got underway in Game 5 of the Conference Semifinals with a brawl at Miami Arena. In that brawl, P. J. Brown flipped Charlie Ward on the hardwood, inciting a bench brawl between the two. As a result, Brown was handed a two-game suspension, while Ward was suspended for Game 6. Meanwhile, as a result of leaving the bench during the brawl, Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston were suspended for Game 6, while Larry Johnson and John Starks were suspended for Game 7. The Heat eventually won the series in seven games.
In Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Lakers, Karl Malone hit all 18 of his free-throw attempts, setting a playoff record for most attempts without a miss, since broken by Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki.
After seven seasons of futility, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally made a postseason appearance, becoming the last of the late-1980s expansion teams to do so. In addition, their expansion counterparts (Miami, Orlando, and Charlotte) also made the playoffs. It would be seven years, however, before they could win their first playoff series.
The Atlanta Hawks played their final season at The Omni Coliseum. The site of The Omni was demolished to make way for Philips Arena, forcing the Hawks to play most of their home games at the Georgia Dome and, in games featuring lesser-profile opponents, the Alexander Memorial Coliseum for the next two seasons.
The season marked the fiftieth anniversary of the NBA. To commemorate the occasion, some NBA teams wore throwback uniforms, the NBA logo was decorated in gold for all uniforms, and the 50th anniversary logo patch was featured in the warmups. The ‘NBA 50’ logo also adorned all 29 NBA courts for the first month of the season, decorated in the respective team colors. In addition, the NBA also unveiled the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during halftime of the 1997 NBA All-Star Game. One team, the Toronto Raptors, honored the Toronto Huskies BAA team by wearing the Huskies' throwback uniforms, and even played the New York Knicks at the SkyDome on the 50th anniversary of the first ever BAA/NBA game on November 1, 1996.
The Boston Celtics not only set a record for the worst winning percentage and number of wins in franchise history, but also become the only NBA team to win only once in 24 games against other teams in its division, in its last game therein versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Several other teams, previously the 1970–71 Cleveland Cavaliers and latterly the 2005–06 Houston Rockets, won only one divisional game in a shorter schedule.
For the first time in NBA history, multiple teams – the above-mentioned Celtics and the second-year Vancouver Grizzlies – finished with a winning percentage below .200. This was to be repeated in 1997–98 (the Nuggets and the Raptors) and again during 1998–99 (the Grizzlies again and the Los Angeles Clippers) but has never occurred in any season since 1999–2000.
After the San Antonio Spurs got off to a poor 3-15 start, general manager Gregg Popovich fired head coach Bob Hill. Popovich immediately took over as the head coach, beginning (as of the 2016-17 season) the NBA's longest active coaching tenure. The Spurs, after finishing the previous season with 59 victories, plunged to a 20-62 record while dealing with a myriad of injuries, especially to David Robinson and Sean Elliott. The 39-game decline was the worst regular-season turnaround in NBA history, surpassed 14 seasons later by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost 42 more games than the previous year.
Notes
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
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: Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
Rookie of the Year: Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers
Defensive Player of the Year: Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta Hawks
Sixth Man of the Year: John Starks, New York Knicks
Most Improved Player: Isaac Austin, Miami Heat
Coach of the Year: Pat Riley, Miami Heat
All-NBA First Team:
F – Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
F – Grant Hill, Detroit Pistons
C – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
G – Tim Hardaway, Miami Heat
All-NBA Second Team:
F Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
F Glen Rice, Charlotte Hornets
C Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
G Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics
G Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings
All-NBA Third Team:
F Anthony Mason, Charlotte Hornets
F Vin Baker, Milwaukee Bucks
C Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers
G John Stockton, Utah Jazz
G Anfernee Hardaway, Orlando Magic
NBA All-Defensive First Team:
F Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
F Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
C Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta Hawks
G Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
G Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics
NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
F Anthony Mason, Charlotte Hornets
F P.J. Brown, Miami Heat
C Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
G Mookie Blaylock, Atlanta Hawks
G John Stockton, Utah Jazz
All-NBA Rookie First Team:
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vancouver Grizzlies
Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers
Stephon Marbury, Minnesota Timberwolves
Marcus Camby, Toronto Raptors
Antoine Walker, Boston Celtics
All-NBA Rookie Second Team:
Kerry Kittles, New Jersey Nets
Ray Allen, Milwaukee Bucks
Travis Knight, Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Matt Maloney, Houston Rockets
Note: All information on this page was obtained from the History section of 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.
