The 2009–10 NBA season was the 64th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 1,230-game regular season (82 games for each of the 30 teams) began on October 27, 2009, and ended on April 14, 2010. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Boston Celtics four games to three to win their second consecutive NBA championship in the 2010 NBA Finals.
The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, and Blake Griffin was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. The Dallas Mavericks hosted the 59th Annual All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 14, 2010.
For the second time in NBA history, all eight Western Conference playoff teams won at least 50 games, and only 7 wins separated the Western Conference No. 1 seed from No. 8 seed. Both of these events first occurred in 2008.
Cleveland's league-leading 61 wins was the lowest win total to lead the league since the Indiana Pacers won 61 games in 2003–04.NBA – Standings – Yahoo! Sports
The New Jersey Nets became the fifth team in NBA history to lose 70 games in a season.
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Coaching changes +Coaching changesOff-season Team 2008–09 coach 2009–10 coach Washington Wizards Ed Tapscott Flip Saunders Sacramento Kings Kenny Natt Paul Westphal Philadelphia 76ers Tony DiLeo Eddie Jordan Minnesota Timberwolves Kevin McHale Kurt Rambis Detroit Pistons Michael Curry John KuesterIn-season Team Outgoing coach New coach New Orleans Hornets Byron Scott Jeff BowerNew Jersey Nets Lawrence Frank Tom Barrise Tom Barrise Kiki Vandeweghe Los Angeles Clippers Mike Dunleavy Kim Hughes
Off-season On April 22, the Washington Wizards hired Flip Saunders as head coach, replacing interim head coach Ed Tapscott. On April 24, the Sacramento Kings fired interim head coach Kenny Natt and four assistant coaches after the Kings finished with a season-low 17 wins. On May 11, the Philadelphia 76ers' interim head coach Tony DiLeo decided to withdraw his name from consideration as head coach for the 2009–10 season, citing family concerns. DiLeo retains his old position as the assistant general manager and senior vice president. On June 1, the Philadelphia 76ers hired Eddie Jordan as head coach. On June 9, the Sacramento Kings hired Paul Westphal as head coach. On June 17, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired interim head coach Kevin McHale, ending McHale's 15-year association with the franchise. On June 30, the Detroit Pistons fired head coach Michael Curry, after only one season at the position. On July 9, the Detroit Pistons hired Cavaliers assistant coach John Kuester as head coach. On August 10, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis as head coach.
In-season On November 12, the New Orleans Hornets fired Byron Scott as head coach, replacing him on an interim basis with general manager Jeff Bower. On November 29, the New Jersey Nets fired Lawrence Frank as head coach, replacing him on an interim basis with assistant coach Tom Barrise. On December 1, the New Jersey Nets appointed general manager Kiki Vandeweghe as an interim head coach, replacing Tom Barrise who coached the team for two games after Lawrence Frank was fired. On February 4, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy stepped down from coaching duties. He retained his position as the team's general manager (he was fired on March 9). Assistant coach Kim Hughes replaced him as head coach on interim basis.
Notable occurrences June On June 10, 2009, one-time All-Star Game MVP Randy Smith died at the age of 60. On June 25, 2009, the 2009 NBA draft was held at the Madison Square Garden, New York City. Blake Griffin was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers.
July On July 7, 2009, the NBA announced that the salary cap for the 2009–10 season would be $57.70 million and would go into effect on July 8.
September On September 1, 2009, the five-year contract between the NBA and its referees expired. Both parties had failed to negotiate a new contract by the start of the pre-season, resulting in a lockout by the National Basketball Referees Association (NBRA) starting on September 18. On September 5, 2009, three-time NBA champion Bruce Bowen retired after 12 seasons in the NBA, at the age of 38. On September 11, 2009, Charlotte Hornets co-owner William Beck died in a plane crash, at the age of 49. On September 11, 2009, NBA legends Michael Jordan, John Stockton and David Robinson along with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. On September 16, 2009, Indiana Pacers co-owner Melvin Simon died at the age of 82. On September 24, 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, who at the time was Russia's richest man according to Forbes magazine, reached a deal to become the majority owner of the New Jersey Nets and to fund nearly half the cost of building the Nets' new arena. On September 30, 2009, the NBA issued a policy regarding Twitter and other social media sites, banning players, coaches and other team basketball operations personnel from using them during games.
October On October 1, the pre-season games started and were refereed by replacement referees from the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the NBA D-League due to the lockout of referees. This marked the first time that replacement referees were used in the NBA since the 1995–96 season. On October 2, the NBA board of governors approved the expanded use of instant replay starting this season to determine whether a 24-second shot clock violation occurred during a play, and to determine during the last two minutes of regulation play or any overtime period which player last touched the ball prior to it going out-of-bounds. On October 8, the NBA played its first-ever game in Taipei. A pre-season game between the Indiana Pacers and the Denver Nuggets was played at Taipei Arena. Taipei became the seventh Asian city to host an NBA game, after Beijing, Guangzhou, Macau, Shanghai, Tokyo and Yokohama. On October 9, Marvin Fishman, one of the original owners of the Milwaukee Bucks, died at the age of 84. On October 23, the NBA and its referees announced that they have agreed on a new labor agreement for the next two seasons, thus ending the lockout of referees.
On October 27, the regular season opened with a record of 83 international players on the opening night rosters, tying the records set in the 2006–07 season. Israeli Omri Casspi, Swede Jonas Jerebko and Tanzanian Hasheem Thabeet were representing their countries for the first time in the NBA. The opening night rosters also featured a record number of former D-League players with 63 players on 29 NBA teams.
November On November 10, Hall of Famer coach Al Cervi died at the age of 92. On November 24, Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin died at the age of 85. On November 25, ten-time All-Star Allen Iverson announced his retirement from the NBA. He was waived by the Memphis Grizzlies on November 19 after playing three games.
January On January 6, Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely, pending further investigation of his admission of bringing guns to the Wizards' locker room. Reports said that Arenas brought his gun because of a dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton over a gambling debt. Arenas was later charged with carrying a gun without a license and pleaded guilty to the charge. On January 9, Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon scored the 10 millionth point in NBA regular season history. On January 24, JamesOn Curry played 3.9 seconds for a game with the Los Angeles Clippers against the Washington Wizards, recording no stats or ball touches, and was waived the next day, which set the record for shortest professional career in NBA history in terms of playing time. On January 27, the NBA suspended Washington Wizards guards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton for the rest of the season. Both Arenas and Crittenton brought guns into the team's locker room at Verizon Center, a violation of both the league's constitution and of the city's laws requiring any guns in the city be licensed in Washington and kept in the home. A few days earlier, Crittenton was also charged with, and pleaded guilty to, a misdemeanor count of possession of an unregistered firearm.
February On February 3, Hall of Famer Dick McGuire died of natural causes at age 84.
NBA All-Star Break
The 2010 NBA All-Star Game was played at Cowboys Stadium, in Texas, on February 14, 2010, with the East winning in a closely contested game, 141–139, and the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade being named the MVP. The game had record-breaking attendance, with 108,713. In the Rookie Challenge game, the Rookies defeated the Sophomores. Tyreke Evans was named the game's MVP. This is the first time the Rookies won the Rookie Challenge since 2002. During the NBA All-Star Weekend, Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks won the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest for the third time in his career; Kevin Durant, who also won the inaugural event, won this year's H.O.R.S.E Competition and Boston's Paul Pierce beat rookie Stephen Curry to win the Three-Point Shootout. Steve Nash won the Skills Challenge for the second time in his career. Team Texas, which represented Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, won the Shooting Stars Competition. In a miscellaneous note, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic set a Guinness World Record for the longest basketball shot while sitting down, at 52 ft 6 in, during Jam Session.
On February 25, the second overall draft pick in the 2009 draft, Hasheem Thabeet, was assigned to NBA D-League team Dakota Wizards, becoming the highest drafted player to play in the D-League. On February 27, Five-time All-Star Carl Braun died of natural causes at the age of 82. On February 27, Michael Jordan reached a deal to become the majority owner of the Bobcats. Jordan had been a part-owner of the Bobcats with the final say on all basketball decisions since 2006.
March On March 9, Mike Dunleavy was fired as Clippers General Manager. On March 13, the Washington Wizards become the first team in 10 years to play 3 games on 3 consecutive nights. The scheduling was caused by a February blizzard that postponed a game.
April On April 5, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the members of the Class of 2010 inductees. Four former NBA players, Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson, Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen were named among the players to be inducted in the Enshrinement Ceremony on August 13. Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss was named among the contributors to be inducted. The United States national basketball team that won the gold medal in the 1992 Olympic Games was named among the teams to be inducted. The team, dubbed "The Dream Team", was the first team made up primarily of NBA players. Prior to the FIBA rules change in 1989, NBA players were not eligible to compete in international basketball. On April 12, the New Jersey Nets played their final game at the Izod Center, a 105–95 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. The Nets, who have played at the Izod Center since 1981, would move to the Prudential Center for the next two seasons before finally moving to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2012. On April 14, the Orlando Magic played their final regular season game at the Amway Arena, a 125–111 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Magic, who have played at the Amway Arena since their inaugural season in 1989, moved to the Amway Center next season.
Records set
Individual October 27: League record. Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James became the youngest player to record 13,000 career points. November 6: League record. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to record 24,000 career points.