1) January 14, 1980: President Jimmy Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow if the Soviet Union doesn’t withdraw from Afghanistan

In January of 1980, President Carter set an ultimatum that the U.S. would boycott the upcoming Olympics if the Soviets didn’t end their ongoing war in Afghanistan. When that failed to happen, the boycott became official in April, with 66 other countries eventually following suit. Setting aside the irony of an American president chiding another government’s hostile interventions, we instead concentrate on the impact on basketball. The U.S. roster had been named and would have been a strong one, headlined by Isiah Thomas, Mark Aguirre, Buck Williams, and Rolando Blackman. They instead spent the summer participating in a “Gold Medal Series” of exhibition games, facing off against rosters of NBA stars and the 1976 U.S. Olympic team. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was stunned in the Olympics semifinals and had to settle for bronze, with Yugoslavia earning its first ever gold medal. Thomas would eventually be left off the 1992 Dream Team roster as well and never did get a chance to participate in the Olympics.

2) March 18, 1980: Mike Krzyzewski is named head coach of Duke

“Somewhat of a surprise in North Carolina athletic circles” was how the Associated Press chose to describe the hiring of Krzyzewski. Though he was a disciple of Bobby Knight and had turned around the Army program in his four years in charge there, Coach K was a relative unknown with an unpronounceable name (the AP article also helpfully phonetically spells it for you) taking over a blue blood program. His predecessor, Bill E. Foster, had led the Blue Devils to a Final Four appearance in 1978 before absconding for the head job at South Carolina. Krzyzewski got off to a slow start, with losing seasons in his second and third years, but in ’83-’84, he kicked off a stretch of 36 seasons during which Duke made the NCAA Tournament 35 times, the Sweet 16 25 times, the Final Four 12 times, and won five national championships. Along the way, he cemented himself as the greatest coach of the modern era and Duke as its pre-eminent program.

3) March 30, 1980: Brian Taylor becomes the first player to lead the NBA in three-point field goals in a season

Supposedly invented by Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein, the three-point line was first adopted by two notable pro basketball NBA rivals: the ABL in 1961 and the ABA in 1967. The NBA reluctantly followed suit for the ’79-’80 season, hoping it would help revive interest in a flagging league. Many teams ignored the three-point line altogether (numerous coaches labeled it as a temporary gimmick not worth their time), while others treated it as a happy accident, at best. One squad that actually embraced the new shot was the Clippers and why not? The struggling franchise was mostly without the services of its star center Bill Walton, who missed 68 games that season due to his lingering injuries. Coach Gene Shue gave his talented guards the go-ahead and they led the NBA in both three-point field goals and attempts. The main benefactor was Taylor, a journeyman with some previous three-point shooting experience from his early days in the ABA. His 90 three-point field goals easily led the NBA in ’79-’80, as did his 239 attempts (Rick Barry finished second in both categories). As a point of comparison, the Clippers made 177 three-point field goals as team in ’79-’80, a total that 29 players surpassed as an individual in ’21-’22, led by Stephen Curry with 285.

4) May 11, 1980: Julius Erving makes his signature baseline move in game four of the NBA Finals, creating one of the greatest highlights in basketball history

While the 1980 NBA Finals seemed like a passing of the torch, marked by Magic Johnson earning Finals MVP, it also contained one of the prior decade’s biggest stars giving us one of the all-time great highlights. With 7:35 remaining in the fourth quarter of game four and the Sixers leading the Lakers 89-84, Erving dribbled along the baseline towards the basket. He blew by Mark Landsberger, leaped into the air balletically from behind the backboard, and then contorted improbably to avoid a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar block and drop in a reverse lay-up. It lacks a catchy moniker (it’s generally referred to as the “scoop shot” but that never really caught on) but lives on as a signature highlight in NBA history. The Sixers wound up just barely holding on to win the game, 105-102, to even the series at 2-2 but the Lakers eventually won the championship in six.

5) May 16, 1980: Filling in at center for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson dominates as the Lakers clinch the first title of the Showtime era

“Winning Time” did not exaggerate this one. When Abdul-Jabbar, reigning MVP and team captain, sprained his ankle during the Lakers’ game five victory in the 1980 NBA Finals and was ruled out for game six, almost everyone assumed the 76ers would emerge victorious and force a game seven. That included Jerry Buss and the Lakers’ brass, who opted not to pack champagne for the trip to Philadelphia, leaving it on ice at The Forum for a potential post-game seven celebration. But ever the eternal optimist, Johnson was one man who believed in himself and his team without reservation, and took the reins at age 20. He convinced coach Paul Westhead to insert him into the lineup at center and dominated despite the size differential, finishing with 42 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists in a 123-107 Lakers win. The legend of Magic and Showtime was born and would come to define the remainder of the decade.

6) June 10, 1980: The NBA Draft is televised for the first time

By the end of the ’70s, NBA television ratings had tanked so severely that CBS had reverted to regularly airing games on tape delay. But against that backdrop, the league took a calculated risk in 1980 by televising the draft for the first time. In the same year that the NFL Draft was first shown on TV by ESPN, the NBA Draft went out live to viewers from the Sheraton Centre Hotel in New York on the USA network. Though it lacked the star power of the previous year’s draft, where Magic Johnson was selected first overall, the 1980 edition had no shortage of drama. The Celtics traded the first overall pick to the Warriors, who used it on Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll. In return, Boston received Robert Parish and the third overall pick, which they used on Minnesota’s Kevin McHale, setting the stage for their ’80s dynasty. USA retained the draft broadcasting rights until the mid ’80s, when TNT/TBS took over right as the lottery system injected a new level of excitement into the proceedings. While the early draft broadcasts were dry, procedural affairs, they’ve developed over the years into entertainment arguably on par with the games themselves.

7) October 11, 1980: In their inaugural game, the Dallas Mavericks defeat the Spurs

Despite being just four years removed from the ABA merger and with a dire financial outlook, the NBA still eyed expansion in 1980. The initial plan was new teams in Dallas and Minneapolis but the Minnesota brass backed out at the last moment, leaving just the Mavericks. Co-founded by former Braves president Norm Sonju and Texas businessman Don Carter (who got involved only due to his wife’s love of the sport), the Mavericks became the third NBA team based in Texas. Their opening game in 1980, at the sparklingly new Reunion Arena was against one of those in-state rivals, the Spurs, who had actually started play in the ABA in Dallas as the Chaparrals before re-locating in 1973. Behind 21 points from Winford Boynes, the Mavericks pulled off a shocking 103-92 win. This would not portend the remainder of their season however, as Dallas was without their top draft pick Kiki Vandeweghe, who was holding out and eventually got traded to Portland. They lost 38 of their next 42 games and finished the season with a 15-67 record. But management was patient and slowly built a contender, with their first playoff appearance coming in 1984 and their Conference Finals debut in 1988.

8) March 14, 1981: On one Saturday afternoon, three buzzer beaters are broadcast live on national television and March Madness as we know it is born

The 1979 National Final, featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, is rightfully cited as the ultimate catalyst for college basketball’s ascent into national prominence. But March Madness as we know it and love it, with its buzzer beaters, whiplash coast-to-coast coverage, and bracket busting upsets, was truly born during the second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament. On one Saturday afternoon, NBC broadcast three buzzer beaters live on national television, two of which eliminated #1 seeds in massive upset. John Smith of St. Joseph’s provided the first one, a lay-up on a terrific feed from teammate Lonnie McFarlan that fell in at the buzzer and set aside top seed DePaul, which was led by Naismith Award winner Mark Aguirre (who reportedly was so shaken by the loss that he walked straight out of the arena and back to the team hotel). A few hours later, another top seed, Oregon State, was locked in a tight game with Kansas State and fans almost missed the thrilling conclusion. That’s because NBC broke their typical protocol of broadcasting games pole-to-pole to break into coverage of Arkansas vs. Louisville. Fans were transported to Austin, Texas, where Marv Albert had the call as U.S. Reed weaved his way through the back court then heaved up a 50-foot shot that somehow went in to give Arkansas a 74-73 victory over the defending champion Cardinals. NBC quickly transported viewers back to Los Angeles, right on time to witness Kansas State’s Rolando Blackman nail a baseline jumper to secure a stunning 50-48 upset of Oregon State. The “madness” had finally been officially instilled in March but NBC would fail to reap the long-term benefits, as CBS wrested away tournament broadcasting rights in 1982.

9) May 3, 1981: Celtics close out an incredible 3-1 series comeback in the Conference Finals against the 76ers with a late game surge
10) May 5, 1981: Larry Bird makes “the greatest play” Red Auerbach had ever seen

To this day, many still call the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals the greatest playoff series in NBA history. It was arguably the pinnacle of the intense Larry Bird-Julius Erving rivalry, culminating in the Celtics erasing a 3-1 series deficit to advance to the NBA Finals. Games five, six, and seven all came down to the final seconds and were all instant classics. The 76ers led 89-82 in game seven in Boston Garden with under six minutes to play when Bird spurred a 9-1 Celtics run to close out the game and series. Boston was the heavy favorite heading into the subsequent NBA Finals against the Rockets but also had a quick turnaround, playing game one just two days after their marathon battle with the Sixers ended. Led by Moses Malone, the underdog Rockets put up a fight and led 87-84 in the fourth quarter when Bird made one of the most spectacular highlight reel plays in Finals history. After missing a jumper from the baseline, the Celtics superstar caught the rebound in mid-air, switched the ball from his right to left hand, and somehow flipped it up and into the basket while his momentum carried him out of bounds. Boston rallied from there for a 98-95 win and eventually closed out the series in six for the first of three titles in Bird’s career.

11) November 12, 1981: David Halberstam’s “The Breaks of the Game” is published

It seemed curious at the time that Halberstam, a venerated reporter who made his name exposing institutional falsehoods in the Vietnam War, would turn his attention to sports. But it turned out to be the perfect marriage of subject and correspondent, with Halberstam beautifully capturing the humanity, politics, and tensions of the late ’70s NBA. He did so by embedding with the Trail Blazers for the ’79-’80 season and subsequently recording a firsthand account of a league at a crossroads, attempting to sell a mostly Black sport to a majority white audience. “The Breaks of the Game” was an instant critical success upon its 1981 release, influencing countless sports journalists and writers even decades later. Its most notable acolyte was Bill Simmons, who has referenced the book numerous times, citing it as his ultimate inspiration as a writer.

12) November 19, 1981: Lakers fire Paul Westhead as coach and replace him with Pat Riley

Though he was hardly the nebbishy bundle of nerves as portrayed by Jason Segel in “Winning Time,” Westhead was a calculated and bookish type, which didn’t always translate to NBA coaching success. When he took over as Lakers head coach in 1979 after his mentor, Jack McKinney, suffered life threatening injuries in a bike accident, Westhead asked Riley (then a TV color commentator for the team) to join him on the sidelines. The pair stuck with McKinney’s up-tempo offensive system to great effect, winning the 1980 championship. But the ’80-’81 follow-up was a letdown, as Magic Johnson missed much of the regular season with a serious knee injury and the Lakers were stunned by the Rockets in a first round playoff series. An embarrassed Westhead opted to re-focus the offense around half court sets for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in ’81-’82, a strategy that didn’t sit well with Johnson. It’s still debatable if Johnson then lobbied owner Jerry Buss to oust Westhead or if it was Buss, feeling residual guilt about picking Westhead over McKinney, who goaded his star point guard to call out Westhead in the press and create the controversy. Either way, Westhead was let go on November 19 (despite the team being on a five-game winning streak) and replaced with Riley. Six months later, the Lakers were celebrating another championship, the first of four with Riley as head coach during the ’80s.

13) November 23, 1981: The Women’s Professional Basketball League officially folds

Long before the WNBA, there was the WPBL, i.e., the Women’s Professional Basketball League. Founded in 1978 by entrepreneur Bill Byrne, the WPBL originally featured eight teams, including the delightfully named Minnesota Fillies, Dayton Rockettes, and Iowa Cornets. It was a much more ragtag organization than the WNBA, with most teams struggling financially from the start, but an entertaining product that established some intense fanbases. UCLA legend Ann Myers was the first overall pick in the league’s inaugural draft and earned MVP honors for the New Jersey Gems in ’79-’80 (she then left the league to sign with the Indiana Pacers but returned after getting waived). Nancy Lieberman was the top pick in the 1980 WPBL draft of the Dallas Diamonds and earned Rookie of the Year honors in ’80-’81. Unfortunately, the WPBL would ultimately last just three seasons, folding in 1981. A major factor of its demise was the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics, which would have been a major marketing opportunity for the league. While the WBPL had a brief run, its influence as the first major women’s basketball pro league was immeasurable. Of note, just as the WBPL was shutting down, the Women’s National Basketball League was forming in Australia and is still functioning to this day.

14) March 28, 1982: Louisiana Tech defeats Cheyney in the National Final of the first ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

There were actually two women’s college basketball championship games played on this historic day. One was organized by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which had been staging a women’s college basketball tournament since 1972. Rutgers defeated Texas in what would turn out to be the final game in AIAW history. That’s because the NCAA had opted to finally host a women’s basketball tournament (nearly a decade after Title IX was passed), inviting 32 teams to determine a champion during three weeks of March. The AIAW held a simultaneous tournament but only three of the top 20 teams in the AP poll chose the AIAW over the NCAA (including #5 Rutgers and #7 Texas, the two eventual finalists). One especially notable team that opted for the NCAA was defending AIAW champions Louisiana Tech. Led by All-Americans Pam Kelly and Angela Turner, the Lady Techsters cruised through the tournament, winning all of their games by double digits, including a 76-62 victory over Cheyney (a Philadelphia-based HBCU coached at the time by future Hall of Fame inductee C. Vivian Stringer) in the National Final. The AIAW, which was run exclusively by women, was wary of the NCAA and its previous disinterest in women’s sports. It sued the NCAA under anti-trust law soon after the simultaneous championship games but lost and was forced to disband.

15) September 2, 1982: The Jazz trade Dominique Wilkins to the Hawks

Holding the #3 pick in the 1982 NBA Draft, the Jazz seemed poised to add a superstar talent to revive their struggling franchise. But there was a catch. After the Lakers selected James Worthy with the top pick and Clippers took Terry Cummings #2, the best player left on the board had no interest in playing for Utah. Wilkins was rightfully concerned about not just the team’s financial dire straits and history of poor results (in their eight years of existence at that point, the Jazz had no winning seasons and had lost 50+ games five times already) but also that their best player, Adrian Dantley, played the same position as him. The Jazz brass lobbied Wilkins to switch to power forward but when he balked, they knew they couldn’t afford a lengthy holdout and searched out a trade partner. As expected for the desperate team, they were basically fleeced by the Hawks, getting just an injury prone John Drew and a past-his-prime Freeman Williams as a trade return for Wilkins. ‘Nique would spend over a decade in Atlanta, making nine All-Star appearances and setting the (still-standing) franchise scoring record. The 1982 draft at least wasn’t a total bust for the Jazz, as they also landed two-time Defensive Player of the Year Mark Eaton in the fourth round.

16) September 15, 1982: Reigning MVP Moses Malone is traded from the Rockets to the 76ers

A reigning MVP has been traded just twice in NBA history. The first was Wilt Chamberlain, dealt from the 76ers to the Lakers in 1968. 14 years later, Philadelphia got an MVP in return, when the cash-strapped Rockets traded them Malone in exchange for Caldwell Jones and a first round pick. Malone was actually originally set to join Philadelphia as a restricted free agent. Not only were the Sixers a much better team, with two NBA Finals appearances in the last three years, but they were able to offer more money than the Rockets. Unwilling to let their two-time MVP walk for free, the Rockets matched the Sixers’ offer and then crafted a sign-and-trade deal. Things obviously worked out for the Sixers, with Malone earning both league MVP and Finals MVP in ’82-’83. But it actually benefitted Houston as well, as they tanked the next two seasons, allowing them to land Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon in back-to-back drafts.

17) December 23, 1982: Chaminade shocks Ralph Sampson and Virginia in maybe the biggest upset in basketball history

A little after 3 AM in Bristol, Connecticut on December 24, 1982, SportsCenter was being broadcast on ESPN when the anchors received a news wire update that they assumed was a typo. It stated that Chaminade, an NAIA program in just its eighth year of operations, had upset Virginia, the #1 team in the country, featuring the two-time defending National Player of the Year honoree, Sampson. To the disbelief of almost everyone, it was true, with Chaminade pulling off a 77-72 win on their home court in Honolulu, in what many still consider the biggest upset in U.S. basketball history, pro or college. Less than 4,000 people were on hand that night to witness it and the game was not even televised on local TV, let alone national. Much of what we know about the contest actually comes from first-hand accounts from then Washington Post reporter Michael Wilbon, who was in town to cover the Aloha Bowl and attended this game just for fun. While this win is obviously the headliner for anyone who’s heard of Chaminade, the team actually pulled off a series of upsets in the early ’80s, notably also taking down #12 Louisville in a 1984 match-up. Based on their reputation from this win, Chaminade started hosting the yearly Maui Invitational starting in 1984, an early season tournament that draws some of the best programs in the country to Hawaii.

18) April 1, 1983: Players and owners agree on a collective bargaining agreement that includes a salary cap

When it came time to renew the collective bargaining agreement in 1983, the NBA owners proposed a salary cap be added, citing the struggles of small market teams like the Cavaliers and Pacers to keep up with big spenders like the Lakers, Celtics, and 76ers. But it was no coincidence that this idea occurred to the owners just as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were becoming superstars with major leverage. The players threatened a strike but in March of 1983, the two sides were able to negotiate a new agreement. It included a salary cap at the behest of the owners but the players were also able to guarantee up to 57% of revenues going forward. This turned out to be a minor concession, as the salary cap laid the real groundwork for commissioner David Stern and the owners to command control of the NBA for the next few decades.

19) April 4, 1983: Lorenzo Charles and N.C. State stun Houston

In an NCAA Tournament that featured Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Patrick Ewing as the headliners, it was the unassuming giant killers N.C. State who stole the show. Led by their boundlessly optimistic head coach Jim Valvano, the Wolfpack started their incredible run in the ACC Tournament, stunning Jordan’s North Carolina and Sampson’s Virginia in back-to-back nail biting upsets. Their fateful journey continued through the NCAA Tournament, with an overtime win over Pepperdine (that included a six-point comeback in the final 24 seconds of regulation), victories over UNLV and Utah, another upset over Sampson’s Cavaliers, and a win over Georgia in the National Semifinals. But it was this National Final win, over “Phi Slamma Jamma” Houston, that solidified this N.C. State team as one of the all-time great Cinderellas. As Drexler struggled with foul trouble and Olajuwon with the altitude (the game was played in Albuquerque), the Wolfpack were able to keep the game low scoring and close. With the score tied 52-52, N.C. State set up a final play for senior guard Dereck Whittenburg. By the time the ball made it to Whittenburg, he was forced to haul up a desperation long-range shot, which was improbably rebounded as an air ball by Lorenzo Charles, who dunked it in at the buzzer.

20) April 7, 1983: Ted Stepien sells the Cavaliers to Gordon Gund

From the time he purchased the team in 1980 until he was forced to sell three years later, Stepien established himself as arguably the worst owner in NBA history. Acting in a duel role as shadow general manager, he made an endless string of questionable transactions, most notably trading away Cleveland’s first round pick in five straight drafts, two of which were used on future Hall of Fame inductees James Worthy and Dennis Rodman. Stepien also wildly overpaid middling veteran talent like Scott Wedman and Bobby Wilkerson, burned through seven head coaches in three seasons, and completely alienated his players, staff, and fanbase. Things got so bad that the league office was forced to step in, first enforcing a measure where all of Stepien’s transactions had to be approved by the league, then implementing the “Stepien Rule” wherein no team could trade away first round picks in consecutive drafts. When Stepien threatened to move the franchise to Toronto, commissioner Larry O’Brien escalated his response, forcing Stepien to sell to Gund, a native son of Cleveland whose father had made a fortune in investment banking. The league allowed Gund to essentially buy back some of the draft picks Stepien had traded away and he used the opportunity wisely, slowing building a contender that thrived in the late ’80s and early ’90s, built around draftees Mark Price and Brad Daugherty.

21) April 23, 1983: Moses Malone makes his “fo’, fo’, fo’” prediction for the playoffs

If it happened today, it would be shared like wildfire across social media and debated ad nauseam on the various cable sports analysis shows. But in 1983, Malone’s infamous quote barely made a blip. In fact, it wasn’t even caught on video, instead just stated to local reporters, who were asking the 76ers superstar for his prediction on the postseason. “Fo’, fo’, fo’” was short for “four, four, four,” as in Malone expected the powerhouse Sixers to sweep each of their three playoff series. It almost happened, with the Sixers sweeping the Knicks in the Conference Semifinals and the Lakers in the NBA Finals, solidifying their status as one of the greatest teams in league history. But in between, they did drop game four of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Bucks, spoiling their stated goal of perfection. Malone’s brash prediction still made its way onto the 76ers’ championship rings, which were emblazoned with the altered phrase “fo’, five, fo’” to acknowledge their dominance.

22) September 29, 1983: David Stern introduces his new substance abuse policy

A few months after the landmark 1983 collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon by the players and owners, commissioner Larry O’Brien swooped in with a monumental amendment. It was a new substance abuse policy, aimed at curbing the NBA’s reputation as a league pampering and promoting drug addled youngsters. Under the new regulations, players could be suspended and otherwise disciplined by the league for multiple violations. They would granted a reprieve if they voluntarily attended rehabilitation in lieu of a suspension. Though O’Brien officially instituted the policy, it was Stern’s baby from the beginning. Then holding the official title of Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, Stern was the policy’s obvious architect and would soon after become its ultimate steward as commissioner himself. There were numerous ramifications, most notably John Drew, Micheal Ray Richardson, Lewis Lloyd, and Mitchell Wiggins, who all soon had their careers derailed or completely ended by suspensions for substance abuse. It was also a public relations boon for the NBA with media and fans seemingly convinced that the league had “cleaned up its act,” so to speak. It’s arguable what the real impact was of this policy on the rise of popularity of the NBA in the ’80s, compared to the influx of star talent like Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, but there’s no doubt the repercussions, both positive and negative, was felt for years to come.

23) December 13, 1983: The Pistons defeat the Nuggets 186-184 in the highest scoring game in NBA history

While the Showtime Lakers were the archetype for high octane offense in the NBA ’80s, no franchise scored more points in the decade than the Nuggets. Utilizing coach Doug Moe’s run-and-gun offense, Denver averaged over 120 points per game between ’80-’81 and ’88-’89. Their ’81-’82 team scored the most points in a season in NBA history, with 10,371 (126.5 per game) and their ’83-’84 team is second on that list. That latter roster was also part of the highest scoring game ever, a 186-184 loss to the Pistons on December 13, 1983. It was a triple overtime affair and Isiah Thomas led the way for Detroit with 47 points, 17 assists, and a buzzer beater at the end of regulation that forced the first overtime. Kiki Vandeweghe scored 51 points for Denver while Alex English added 47. Not only did the 370 combined points in this game smash the previous record of 337, it also set the marks for most combined field goals, most combined assists, highest score by a winning team, and highest score by a losing team. It was also a perfect microcosm of this era in Nuggets history, as their record setting offensive heroics were ultimately let down by their record setting defensive struggles. The ’81-’82 Nuggets also set the record for most points allowed in an NBA season, giving up 125.9 per game.

24) January 29, 1984: Larry Nance wins the inaugural Slam Dunk Contest

The NBA co-opted quite a few ABA innovations after merging with the league in 1976 and arguably the biggest headliner was the Slam Dunk Contest. It took eight years for the NBA to revive the idea, as part of the 1984 All-Star Game scheduled in Denver, where the original ABA dunk contest had also taken place. For the first time, the NBA staged an All-Star Saturday Night, pairing the dunk contest with a new Legends Classic exhibition featuring recently retired stars like Pete Maravich. 1976 champ Julius Erving, now 33 years old, re-created his infamous foul line dunk but was beaten by a young Nance, who was in his third season with the Suns at the time. Also featuring young rising stars in Dominique Wilkins, Ralph Sampson, and Clyde Drexler, the contest was a success (and followed a familiar controversial pattern, with an absurd amount of allowable attempts and questionable scoring, issues that have plagued the contest ever since) and became a staple of All-Star Weekend going forward, leading to some especially memorable editions later in the ’80s.

25) February 1, 1984: David Stern takes over as commissioner from Larry O’Brien

Aside from maybe Michael Jordan, no figure looms larger in the success of the NBA than Stern. The son of a Jewish deli owner in New York, Stern grew up idolizing the Knicks and aimed to become a pro basketball player but lacked the requisite size and skill. He turned to law instead and first crossed paths with the NBA in 1976, advising the league on its settlement of a lawsuit brought by Oscar Robertson over free agency. Soon after, Stern officially joined the league office as general counsel, eventually working his way up the chain to commissioner, taking over immediately following the 1984 All-Star Game. He was the perfect person at the perfect time, scaling up a league on the rise while ruling with an iron fist. This led to a lot of controversies over the years but also numerous successes, from the global expansion of the sport to massive television contracts to the rise of individual players as celebrity ambassadors.

26) March 1984: David Thompson injures his knee getting shoved down the stairs at Studio 54, effectively ending his career

An exceedingly athletic wing player with incredible above-the-rim skills, Thompson could have been Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. Instead, he’s a legend, yes, but a tempered one, and also a tragic case study in how the ’70s and ’80s NBA were a wasteland of lost opportunity. After finishing second in the NBA in scoring in ’77-’78 and making his third All-Star appearance in ’78-’79, Thompson’s troubles started when he suffered a major foot injury. Not only did it hamper his athleticism, it also led him into drug addiction and within just a few years, Thompson was out of the league at age 29. The final inciting incident happened at Studio 54, a New York nightclub infamous for its decadence and drug use. During an altercation with a bouncer, Thompson was shoved and tumbled down a stairwell, causing ligament damage in his knee. Then a member of the SuperSonics, he was shut down for the season and eventually waived, and a later comeback attempt with the Pacers fizzled out.

27) April 5, 1984: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time scoring record

Easily the greatest scorer the sport had ever seen up to that point, Chamberlain broke Bob Pettit’s all-time NBA scoring record before he even turned 30 years old. He eventually extended the mark to 31,419, over 5,000 points ahead of the man in second place (Oscar Robertson at the time of Chamberlain’s retirement). It seemed almost as insurmountable a record as Chamberlain’s 100 points in one game but then along came Abdul-Jabbar. Over 20 seasons and 1,560 games, Abdul-Jabbar wound up with 38,387 points, an astonishing amount. Longevity was obviously a key component (Chamberlain played in 500 less career games) but so was consistency. When he broke Chamberlain’s record late in the ’83-’84 season, Abdul-Jabbar was just shy of his 37th birthday and still averaging 21.5 points per game. His big night came in a Lakers win over the Jazz but the game didn’t take place in Los Angeles or Utah but in Las Vegas, where the Jazz occasionally hosted games in the mid ’80s. The basket that set the new all-time mark was appropriately a skyhook and aptly came on an assist from Magic Johnson.

28) April 27, 1984: Isiah Thomas and Bernard King go mano-a-mano

This one typically gets lost amongst some of the more renowned rivalries and match-ups of the ’80s, but King and Thomas put on quite a show in this winner-take-all match-up. Taking place in an overpacked Joe Louis Arena (Detroit’s usual home base at the time, the Silverdome, was unavailable due to a motocross competition) with temperatures reaching unhealthy levels due to a malfunctioning air conditioner, the Pistons and Knicks battled in game five to decide a first round series. Both teams were desperate for a win. The once mighty Knicks were a decade removed from their last Conference Finals appearance while the middling Pistons were looking for their first series win in eight years. King was struggling with flu symptoms and a dislocated finger but still put together a dominant performance, finishing with 44 points and 12 rebounds. New York led by eight points with two minutes remaining when Thomas took over, scoring 16 points in the final 93 seconds of regulation to spark an incredible Pistons comeback. The knock-down-drag-out battle (four players fouled out, including Thomas in overtime, while four other players, including King, finished with five fouls) was won by the Knicks in overtime but it’s Pistons fans who mostly recall this contest with awe and nostalgia, as an origin story of Thomas’ career, which eventually included two championships.

29) May 31, 1984: Game two of the 1984 NBA Finals (the Gerald Henderson steal)
30) June 6, 1984: Game four of the 1984 NBA Finals (Kevin McHale clotheslines Kurt Rambis)
31) June 12, 1984: Game seven of the 1984 NBA Finals (Boston Garden magic eclipses Magic)

Five years into their rivalry that ultimately defined the ’80s, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird finally faced off in an NBA Finals and the series did not disappoint. Games one and two were in Boston but the Lakers were shockingly primed to take an improbable 2-0 series lead coming out of them. After winning game one 124-116, they led 113-111 late in an epic game two, thanks to an incredible James Worthy dunk. When Kevin McHale missed a pair of potential tying free throws with 20 seconds left, the Lakers called a controversial timeout (Pat Riley would claim he didn’t want it called), necessitating a dangerous backcourt inbounds against a pressure defense. Sure enough, a poor pass from Worthy was stolen by Henderson, who laid it in to tie the game and force overtime. Boston prevailed in the extra frame against the shellshocked Lakers, turning the tide of the series. Game four also featured a Lakers meltdown in the clutch, blowing a 113-108 lead in the final 45 seconds thanks to a combination of turnovers, bad fouls, and missed free throws. They were assuredly unnerved by the intensely physical style of play from Boston in the game, personified by McHale knocking Rambis to the ground in the second quarter with a clothesline, nearly inciting a bench clearing brawl. When Worthy missed a pair of free throws late that clinched a Celtics win, Cedric Maxwell taunted him with a choke sign. Los Angeles somehow rallied to win game six at home but never stood a chance in game seven at the Boston Garden. With the temperature at 91 degrees on the parquet court, Maxwell came through with a near triple-double and some impressive pressure defense. The Lakers erased a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter but then struggled down the final stretch and the Celtics clinched the championship with a 111-102 win. Johnson was reportedly so shaken by this loss and his poor performance (5-of-14 shooting, seven turnovers) that he spent the entire summer sequestered in his house stewing about it before coming back to lead L.A. to the title in a 1985 re-match.

32) June 19, 1984: The Portland Trail Blazers draft Sam Bowie #2 overall over Michael Jordan

With the draft lottery getting instituted the next year, 1984 was the last time that the #1 pick in the NBA Draft was decided by a coin flip. This archaic process dated back to 1966 and had been responsible for the Suns missing out on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the 76ers on Bill Walton, the Bulls on Magic Johnson, and the Clippers on James Worthy. Its final victim was the Trail Blazers in 1984, who were in the running for the top pick with the Rockets. Portland was actually the second best team in the West in ’83-’84 but held this spot thanks to a trade three years prior with the cellar dwelling Pacers. When the Rockets won the coin toss and the right to draft Hakeem Olajuwon, this left the Blazers with a dilemma. Do they draft Jordan even though Clyde Drexler was already on the roster? Or do they take Bowie, a skilled big man from Kentucky? We know the answer, of course, and it forever altered the fortunes of the Bulls and Blazers. Bowie actually started off strong, getting named 1st-Team All-Rookie in ’84-’85, until injuries eventually left him as one of the biggest busts in league history.

33) November 9, 1984: Larry Bird and Julius Erving trade punches

Aside from the drug abuse that permeated the player base, the NBA’s other big public relations issue in the early ’80s was its perception as a violent league filled with thuggish players. This seemed like an unfair assessment, a vestigial holdover of the late ’70s, when enforcers like Kermit Washington, Maurice Lucas, and Dennis Awtry roamed the courts looking for trouble. But early in the ’84-’85 season, two of the league’s marquee players came to blows in one of the most shocking on-court incidents in NBA history. Neither Bird nor Erving were hardly anyone’s definition of a “thug,” which rendered this incident all the more outrageous. Just two years after their long-standing rivalry had inspired a groundbreaking video game where the pair matched up one-on-one in basketball, they took to trading punches like boxers instead. Apparently fed up with Bird’s trash talking during a Celtics blowout win, Erving shoved the reigning MVP, who responded by grasping Dr. J’s neck, in what made for a striking image. Both players downplayed the incident but it shocked fans and the league office, who levied out hefty fines (including one to a then rookie Charles Barkley, who grabbed Bird during the scrum but claimed he was only involved to break up the fight).

34) December 25, 1984: Bernard King scores 60 in the first big national Christmas game

NBA Christmas Day games date back all the way to 1947 but didn’t become a true event until 1984, when King dropped 60 in front of a national audience on CBS. It turned out to be a rare bright spot in a difficult season for King, who tore his ACL a few months after this game and was never the same again. It was also a rough year for the Knicks, who struggled even while King was healthy and wound up losing 55 games. This Christmas Day tilt was one of those 55 losses, dropping it 120-112 against the rival Nets. But King was the story the next day, compiling his 60 points on 19-of-30 shooting from the field and an incredible 22-of-26 from the free throw line. All kinds of superlatives apply to this performance. It broke Richie Guerin’s franchise record for points in a game (and it stood for nearly 30 years until Carmelo Anthony exceeded it). King also became only the 10th player in NBA history to top 60 in a game and the first to do so in the ’80s. Maybe most importantly, it set the Christmas Day scoring record (which — unsurprisingly — was previously held by Wilt Chamberlain) and has yet to be exceeded. Even now, as Christmas has become the marquee date of the NBA regular season schedule, King’s 1984 performance still lives on as the exemplar event.

35) December 30, 1984: LeBron James is born

Ok, this is cheating a little bit. But the possibly greatest player of all time being born is worth noting. There’s still not much known about James’ early life, as the superstar has opted to keep it as private as possible. We know he was born to Gloria James in Akron on December 30, 1984. She was only 16 at the time and the father was disinterested, leaving her not just raising a baby as a teenager but also two younger siblings when her mother passed away soon after. It led to a tumultuous early childhood for LeBron, full of vagrancy and degeneracy, up until he moved in with a youth football coach named Frank Welker. With the Welker family, James found not just stability but also purpose, as he was introduced to basketball at age eight. The rest of the LeBron story is pretty well known, from his moving back in with his mom (and her boyfriend, who became a new father figure), to enrolling at St. Vincent-St. Mary, to his incredible NBA career.

36) February 23, 1985: Bobby Knight throws a chair onto the court during an Indiana loss to Purdue

With the benefit of hindsight now, nearly four decades later, perhaps the most stunning thing about this incident is how nonchalant the response was to it. It’s trite already to bring this up on this list but imagine if this happened today in the social media age. Just a few minutes into an Indiana home game against Purdue, Knight was given a technical foul for arguing over a series of questionable calls. As Purdue’s Steve Reid stepped to the line to shoot a technical free throw, Knight picked up his plastic chair and hurled it onto the floor, where it eventually landed in front of Reid. It was a seemingly surreal moment in an otherwise forgettable game, which Indiana eventually lost on their way to a disappointing 19-14 season. Knight was immediately ejected and later suspended for one game by the Big 10, but received no other punishment from Indiana, the conference, or the NCAA. In fact, the school’s administration, students, and fanbase seemed to revel in the moment of rage, perceiving their firebrand coach as justified in taking such a drastic stance against subpar officiating (it’s also notable that the official who ejected Knight soon after became a close friend and staunch defender). It was only years later, after a lengthy string of further violent and inappropriate actions by the coach, that this specific moment seemed relevant, as arguably the beginning of the end. 

37) April 1, 1985: Nike releases the Air Jordan I to the general public

Shoe endorsements were nothing new when Michael Jordan was drafted by the Bulls in 1984 and subsequently inked a deal with Nike. But this was an unparalleled marriage of the greatest star in the sport’s history with a fledgling but keen sportswear company. Jordan took the court in his rookie season wearing the Nike Air Ship and it was immediately banned by the league under an archaic color percentage rule that was eventually repealed. Nike wisely jumped on the marketing opportunity, claiming Jordan’s sneakers were banned for providing him an unfair advantage and covering the Bulls star’s fines as he continued to wear them during games. In the spring of 1985, they released the shoes to the general public as the Air Jordan I (with a new color scheme that fit within the NBA regulation) and shoe culture has never been the same. Even now, two decades removed from Jordan’s last NBA appearance, the Air Jordan is still the most popular basketball shoe brand in the world and sneaker sponsorships have since become a rite of passage for any young NBA star. By the way, if you picked up an Air Jordan I in 1985 for its original retail price of $65 and still have them in relatively good condition, they’re going for thousands of dollars now on the re-sale market.

38) April 13, 1985: Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball” debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 chart

Name dropping or referencing NBA teams and stars in hip-hop lyrics has become a rite of passage over the years. It started in 1979 with what’s generally considered the first hip-hop hit song, Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” which featured a nod to watching the Knicks on television. Blow was another rap progenitor and while recording his fifth album, 1984’s “Ego Trip,” he surveyed the landscape and realized there were no songs specifically about his favorite sport. He wrote and released “Basketball,” an ode to the game generally but to the NBA and its stars specifically. “Basketball” features references to 25 players, including legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson, as well as contemporaneous stars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Moses Malone. It was released as a single in early 1985 and made the Billboard charts in April. While it wasn’t Blow’s biggest hit, “Basketball” was decidedly his biggest cultural impact. Whether they made it into the lyrics or not, NBA players loved it as did amateur players and fans across the country, who would blast the song on boomboxes to accompany pick-up games and lay-up lines. The league itself was wary at first, not allowing Blow to utilize any NBA footage in the music video, but eventually embraced the song, creating their own music video for it and regularly inviting Blow to perform during halftime of games. This was another example of David Stern recognizing the cultural shift in America and how the NBA could be at the epicenter of it.

39) April 16, 1985: NBA approves Kings’ move from Kansas City to Sacramento

No NBA franchise has moved more than the Kings, who joined the league as the Rochester Royals in 1948, re-located to Cincinnati in 1957, then to Kansas City in 1972, at which point they changed their name from Royals to Kings. The franchise’s time in Kansas City was a disaster basically from the start, as they failed to draw much attention away from baseball’s Royals, football’s Chiefs, NCAA’s Kansas, or even the surprisingly popular indoor soccer team, the Comets. It didn’t help that the product on the court was mostly mediocre, making just five postseason appearances in 13 years and winning only two playoff series total during that span. The Kings were sold to a group of investors from Sacramento in 1983, who initially promised fans the team wouldn’t move but naturally started making immediate plans. On April 14, 1984, the Kings played their final home game in Kansas City, a loss to the Lakers. Two days later, commissioner David Stern and the NBA owners officially approved the re-location to Sacramento, contingent on a new arena getting built within two years. It was the fourth and, to this day, final move in franchise history, though the team leaving Sacramento has been a near constant rumor over the last decade or so. Between the Kings, the Hawks leaving St. Louis in 1968, and the Spirits of St. Louis folding in 1976 when the ABA dissolved, Missouri has been without a major pro basketball team now for almost forty years.

40) May 12, 1985: The Knicks win the first draft lottery

When Hakeem Olajuwon landed on his (adopted) hometown Houston Rockets with the #1 selection in the 1984 NBA Draft, it should have been a banner moment for the league. Instead, there was a black eye element to the proceedings, as the Rockets were one of several teams openly tanking down the stretch of the ’83-’84 season to attempt to secure that top pick. David Stern and the league office developed an elegant solution: a draft lottery, wherein all non-playoff teams have their draft order determined by chance. On the evening of May 12, in front of a live television audience, Stern reached his hand into a hopper and pulled out an envelope containing the logo of the Knicks, indicating that they would select first in the ensuing draft. One of the league’s marquee teams in its biggest market winning the rights to select can’t-miss prospect Patrick Ewing immediately became a boondoggle. Stern was almost immediately accused of somehow rigging the process to benefit his hometown Knicks, a conspiracy theory that many maintain to this day. Though the evidence for this theory is unfounded, at best, the league still responded by tweaking the system over the years both to safeguard its integrity and respond to teams finding new ways to tank. A similar draft lottery process was applied to the NHL in 1995 and to the MLB in 2023.

41) June 9, 1985: The Lakers defeat the Celtics to clinch the championship and finally break their NBA Finals curse at the Boston Garden

The Lakers defeating the Celtics in the NBA Finals seemed like an insurmountable goal by 1985. Doing so with two wins in the Boston Garden was even more of a long shot. In their previous eight Finals match-ups, including in 1984, the Celtics were victorious in the series each time and held a 19-7 record in home games. Things were looking like more of the same in 1985, as the series kicked off with the “Memorial Day Massacre,” a 148-114 Celtics victory in the Garden in game one. But the Lakers recovered impressively, winning game two in Boston and game three at home in a blowout. Heading into game six, the Lakers held a 3-2 series lead but Celtics fans were confident that the Garden ghosts would ensure wins in the final two contests, just as they had so many times before. The 38-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had other plans, leading the way with 29 points in a 111-100 Lakers win and becoming the oldest player ever to earn Finals MVP honors. It was the first time a team had ever clinched a championship against the Celtics in Boston, a feat that would not be repeated until 2022. This was also notable as the last season the NBA utilized the branding of “World Championship Series,” officially changing the name going forward to simply the “NBA Finals.”

42) February 25, 1986: Micheal Ray Richardson is banned for life from the NBA after a third time testing positive for cocaine

In January of 1986, John Drew became the first real casualty of the NBA’s War on Drugs, as codified in its substance abuse policy. He was suspended for life from the league due to three infractions involving cocaine abuse. It was certainly a notable occurrence but Drew, six years removed from his last All-Star appearance, wasn’t even in the league at the time, having last played in late 1984. Richardson’s ban a year later was a much more significant story, as the talented combo guard was still in his prime. He made his fourth career All-Star appearance in ’84-’85 and earned Comeback Player of the Year honors after missing half the previous season for a stint in rehab for cocaine use. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to fully kick the habit, testing positive for the substance during the ’85-’86 season, leading his lifetime ban from Stern. An embittered Richardson was actually re-instated by Stern two years later but opted not to return to the NBA, instead closing out his pro career in Europe, playing until the age of 47. 

43) March 14, 1986: Cleveland State takes down Indiana in the first significant March Madness upset of the modern era

The NCAA Tournament was first expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a year that featured an improbable championship run by #8 seed Villanova but no notable first round upsets. That early shocker, now a staple of March Madness, instead traces its roots to 1986, when Cleveland State became the toast of basketball with a stunner over Indiana. It marked the first time a team seeded #14 or lower had won a tournament game and was especially gratifying that it came against Indiana, with their poster boy star Steve Alford and alienating coach Bobby Knight (the Hoosiers got their revenge in 1987, winning the third and final title of Knight’s tenure). Utilizing young head coach Kevin Mackey’s “stun-and-run” pressure defense to perfection, the Vikings forced 15 Indiana turnovers and shot 58.9% from the field in an 83-79 win. It would turn out to be one of two massive upsets that day, with #14 seed Little Rock taking down Notre Dame later that evening. Cleveland State subsequently advanced to the Sweet 16 with a second round victory over #6 seed St. Joseph’s (led by 23 points from freshman guard Ken “Mouse” McFadden), laying the groundwork for numerous small school Cinderellas to come.

44) April 20, 1986: Michael Jordan scores a playoff record 63 points but the Bulls fall short against the Celtics in double overtime

As memorialized recently in “The Last Dance,” this game was a perfect early microcosm of Michael Jordan’s greatness and his stubborn determination. He had broken his foot early in the ’85-’86 season and missed 64 games. Bulls management wanted their young star to rest and come back strong in ’86-’87 but he refused, returning for the home stretch of the regular season to carry Chicago into the playoffs, where they faced one of the greatest teams of all time in the Conference Quarterfinals. Jordan pushed the Celtics in 1986 like no other player could, scoring a still playoff record 63 points in this game, forcing double overtime at the Boston Garden before finally succumbing, 135-131. Though the Celtics went on to finish off the series two days later in a sweep, it was one of the most exhilarating performances in NBA history, inspiring Larry Bird to label the Bulls star as “God disguised as Michael Jordan.” This was also notable as the final appearance in the storied career of George Gervin, whom the Bulls had acquired earlier in the season to add some scoring during Jordan’s extended absence.

45) May 21, 1986: Ralph Sampson’s buzzer beater finishes a stunning Rockets Conference Finals upset of the Lakers

A Celtics-Lakers rubber match in the NBA Finals seemed like an inevitability throughout the ’85-’86 season but the young, upstart Rockets threw some sand in the gears in the Conference Finals. Behind dominant performances from their “Twin Towers,” Hakeem Olajuwon and Sampson, the Rockets stunned the Lakers in five games. Two of the Houston wins were by double digits but the deciding game five came down to the buzzer. With the score tied at 112-112, just seconds left on the clock, and Olajuwon watching from the sidelines after getting ejected (for fighting Mitch Kupchak), Sampson hit an improbable, off-balance jumper as time expired to clinch the series. But this would turn out to be the absolute zenith for this Rockets team and Sampson. Houston was no match for the Celtics in the subsequent NBA Finals and the team quickly fell apart due to injuries, drug suspensions, and in-fighting, allowing the Lakers to dominate the West for the remainder of the decade. Unbeknownst to the team at the time, Sampson was already suffering at this point with injuries that were the result of a hard fall taken late in the ’85-’86 regular season. They would hamper him for the rest of his career, which took a precipitous decline up until his 1992 retirement.

46) June 6, 1986: Celtics clinch the championship and stake their claim as the greatest team in NBA history

Thanks to a Larry Bird triple-double, plus huge performances from Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, the Celtics won game six of the 1986 NBA Finals over the Rockets by a breezy final score of 114-97. Though Boston earned three of their four wins in the series in blowouts, it was closer than expected, with the Rockets managing to extend to six games. Prior to the Finals, the Celtics had lost just 17 games the entire regular season and playoffs with just one defeat at home. Led by Bird, who earned league MVP and Finals MVP honors, the Celtics were essentially unstoppable in ’85-’86 and even before they clinched the title, they were being compared to the ’66-’67 76ers and ’71-’72 Lakers as possibly the greatest team in league history. Things fell downhill from here for Boston (see entry directly below) and this turned out to be the final title in the careers of Bird, McHale, Dennis Johnson, and Bill Walton (Parish won one more later on with the Bulls).

47) June 19, 1986: Len Bias passes away just two days after being drafted by the Celtics

Tragedy had struck the NBA before 1986 and would do so multiple times again but nothing hit quite like Bias passing away in 1986. The 22-year-old had just been drafted #2 overall by the Celtics out of Maryland and was a natural fit, a perfect protege of and inheritor to Larry Bird’s position and role on the team. But two days later, while partying with friends, he suffered a seizure, fell unconscious, and never revived, dying of a drug overdose. Suddenly, Bias and the NBA at large were drawn into the disastrous U.S. War on Drugs, an initiative that started in 1971 but really caught steam in the wake of this incident. Soon enough, President Ronald Reagan was signing into law the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, an ill-fated bill that ruined countless lives with its draconian measures.

48) August 1986: David Stern meets with officials from the China Central Television Network (CCTV)

Though the 1992 Olympics are an obvious flashpoint for the expansion of the NBA in the international market, a more overlooked moment came in 1986. This meeting between commissioner David Stern and CCTV reps was regarding broadcasting NBA games in the most populated nation on Earth. The Chinese television group agreed and broadcasts started in 1986, with a majorly tape delayed broadcast of the previous years’ NBA Finals games between the Lakers and Celtics. These recordings were sent for free by Stern, who understood the eventual return on investment of growing the sport’s popularity in China. The NBA eventually opened its first overseas headquarters in Hong Kong in 1992 and in 1994, CCTV broadcasted a live NBA game for the first time, a Finals match-up between the Rockets and Knicks.

49) September 1986: Fleer distributes its ’86-’87 line, the holy grail of basketball trading cards

There were dozens of basketball trading card sets released in 2022. Compare that to the five year period between 1982 and 1986, when not a single major collection was distributed. That was due to Topps, which had printed a set every year dating back to 1969, shutting down their basketball operations after a poor sales performance for their ’81-’82 collection. Fleer stepped into the void in 1986, releasing what would go on to become arguably the most iconic trading cards in basketball history. This was due to numerous factors, including built-up demand, the preponderance of superstars in 1986, and Fleer’s sharp design. But it was also an element of circumstance, as the ’86-’87 Fleer set could claim provenance of the rookie cards for all players between 1981 and 1986, which, of course, included Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Patrick Ewing, and Clyde Drexler, just to name a few. Topps returned to the basketball trading card game in the early ’90s, when the market additionally exploded with popular entries from Skybox, Upper Deck, and Hoops. But the ’86-’87 Fleer set is the grand prize of basketball trading cards, with an unopened case of packs recently selling for $1.7 million.

50) November 4, 1986: “Double Dribble” is released in arcades
51) November 14, 1986: “Hoosiers” is released in theaters

There had been other movies about basketball before as well as other video games featuring the sport, but in this 10-day stretch, both mediums were changed forever. “Double Dribble” was a landmark release in sports video game history. Developed by the Japanese company Konami, it was a revolutionary game in its use of five-on-five basketball (most early basketball games were one-on-one or two-on-two due to graphics and/or processing limitations), its next-level graphics and gameplay, and its extraneous fun elements, from the mascots to the dunk cut-scenes to the pre-game and halftime shows. It’s likely that Double Dribble was being played in arcades in movie theaters around the country in late 1986 by teens waiting for a showing of “Hoosiers.” Based loosely on real events from 1954, “Hoosiers” featured Gene Hackman as a grizzled high school basketball coach leading his rural team to an unlikely Indiana state championship. Released a couple years before “Field of Dreams,” “Hoosiers” was a similarly nostalgic ode to sports history but also a solid movie that still holds up and rightfully earned its place as arguably the greatest basketball film ever made. 

52) February 7, 1987: The West defeats the East in overtime in the greatest All-Star Game of all time

Stocked with talent, competitive from start to finish, filled with interpersonal drama, and played out in front of a raucous Kingdome crowd, the 1987 All-Star Game was the greatest exhibition game in NBA history. Though the rosters were a who’s who of the old guard (Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving, making his final appearance) and up-and-coming superstars (Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Charles Barkley, making his All-Star debut), there was an unsung hero in hometown favorite Tom Chambers. The Sonics forward, who was added to the roster as an injury replacement for Ralph Sampson, earned MVP honors for scoring 34 points and keying a late West rally to force overtime, where they prevailed. The 303 combined points set the All-Star Game record, which stood until 2014. But the real story here was Jordan getting “frozen out” of the East offense, finishing the game with just 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting. This was supposedly spearheaded by Pistons teammates Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas, who were resentful of the adulation the young Bulls superstar was already receiving. It kicked off the Bulls-Pistons rivalry that would define the NBA over the next few seasons. 

53) March 30, 1987: CBS debuts a new segment after the NCAA Tournament National Final, a highlights package set to the song “One Shining Moment”

Over 32 million people tuned in to CBS for the 1987 National Final between Syracuse and Indiana. They got to watch a great game, sure, with the Hoosiers prevailing on a last second Keith Smart jumper, but even more importantly, they got a “shining moment.” Written and performed by singer-songwriter David Barrett, the song “One Shining Moment” was actually intended to first be used by CBS over a montage package of the 1986 NFL season. But Super Bowl XXI ran long and the tune was shelved until the NCAA Tournament. Featuring straightforward lyrics about hard work, resiliency, and believing in oneself, the song was a perfect pairing with tournament highlights. It was an instant hit and immediately became an annual coda to the CBS tournament coverage, with later cover versions from Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Jennifer Hudson, and Ne-Yo. Almost as much as the term “March Madness” itself, “One Shining Moment” has become a shorthand phrase for the essence of the NCAA Tournament.

54) April 17, 1987: Michael Jordan clinches his first scoring title

If you take away his rookie season (when he finished in third), his second season (when he missed 64 games with a broken foot), and his time with the Wizards, Jordan was the scoring champ 10 times in 11 chances. He won his first scoring title in ’86-’87 and boy did he ever do it in impressive fashion, finishing with what would ultimately be a career high 37.1 points per game. This was eight points better than the second place finisher, Dominique Wilkins, and was (and still is) the highest scoring average ever for any player besides Wilt Chamberlain. The league certainly took notice, as Jordan was named 1st-Team All-NBA for the first time in ’86-’87 and finished second in MVP voting behind Magic Johnson. But it’s also notable that his Bulls team finished below .500 in the standings and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Celtics.

55) April 22, 1987: NBA board of governors approves expansion franchises in Charlotte, Minneapolis, Orlando, and Miami

As the NBA exploded in popularity through the ’80s, expansion became inevitable. In early 1987, ownership groups from seven different cities put in a bid for a new team and the expectation was that three would receive one. At an owners meeting on the eve of the 1987 playoffs, a surprise four teams were approved through voting: Minneapolis, Charlotte, Miami, and Orlando. Minneapolis and Charlotte were no shock but the conventional wisdom was that only one of the Florida locations would receive a team (St. Petersburg was also in the running, as were Anaheim and Toronto). That’s because the NBA had an odd number of teams as of 1987, due to the Mavericks getting added alone as the 23rd franchise when a previous ownership group from Minneapolis backed out. Regardless, the Heat and Hornets joined for the ’88-’89 season with the Timberwolves and Magic following in ’89-’90. Minnesota gaining a team was a throwback to the area’s hosting of the Lakers in the early days of the league, while Charlotte, Orlando, and Miami were crucial planks in the NBA’s infiltration of the American South, a market that only the ABA had really tapped previously.

56) May 10, 1987: Sleepy Floyd sets the playoff scoring records for points in a quarter and points in a half

A solid combo guard who had spent his early career mired on mediocre teams in New Jersey and Golden State, Floyd had something of a breakout year in ’86-’87. He made his first (and ultimately only) All-Star appearance that year and averaged a career high 10.3 assists per game, good for second in the league behind Magic Johnson. His Warriors also reached the postseason for the first time in a decade, and Floyd commemorated it with a performance for the ages. In game four of a Conference Semifinals series against Johnson’s Lakers, Floyd went off, finishing with 51 points on 18-of-26 shooting, plus 10 assists in a 129-121 Warriors win. He became just the 13th player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a playoff game (for the record, the first 12 are all now in the Hall of Fame) and even more notably, set the still standing records for most points in a playoff game half (39) and in a quarter (29). Unfortunately, Floyd and the Warriors were just delaying the inevitable, as this win still left them in a 3-1 series hole and the Lakers won game five to advance and eventually win the championship. Floyd scored just 18 points as an encore in the game five loss and was traded soon after to the Rockets. But his legend lives on in the hearts of Warriors fans and Lakers haters everywhere.  

57) May 26, 1987: “Now there’s a steal by Bird!”

It’s long since been torn down and replaced with luxury apartments but the Boston Garden still stands as the most common site of incredible NBA moments. This was not the last memorable thing to happen at the Garden but it’s probably the final example of its magical aura before it was closed and replaced in 1995. With five seconds remaining in game five of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons held a 107-106 lead and the ball. Isiah Thomas had just hit a clutch, go-ahead jumper, followed by Dennis Rodman blocking a Larry Bird lay-up, with the rebound deflecting out of bounds off of Boston. Thomas just had to successfully inbound the ball to give the Pistons a commanding 3-2 series lead that would likely cement their status as the new dominant force of the East. But Thomas tossed the ball lazily towards Bill Laimbeer and Bird came flying in to steal it and pass it to a cutting Dennis Johnson, who hit the ensuing buzzer beater lay-up for a stunning Celtics victory in one of the greatest games ever played. The play was immortalized by Celtics radio announcer Johnny Most, with his legendary “now there’s a steal by Bird!” Bird finished the game with 36 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, and just that one steal. The shellshocked Pistons actually managed to recover and win game six at home (it helped that Robert Parish was suspended for the game for punching Laimbeer during game five) but the Celtics closed out the series at home in game seven and extended their dynasty just a little bit longer, earning a rubber match with the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

58) June 9, 1987: Magic Johnson’s “baby sky hook” closes out arguably the best game of the ’80s Lakers-Celtics rivalry

Speaking of greatest games in NBA history, game four of the 1987 NBA Finals may have been the apex of the Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry. It was their third and final NBA Finals tilt and while the Celtics entered the series as underdogs, they knew a home win in game four could give them the momentum needed to pull off the upset. Bird actually struggled for much of this game, shooting just 7-of-19 from the field, but still finished with a near triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. He also hit a three-pointer with 12 seconds left that gave Boston a 106-104 lead. Prior to that, the Lakers had erased a 16-point second half deficit, taking their first lead of the second half on an alley-oop dunk from Johnson to (a 40-year-old) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 29 seconds remaining. Abdul-Jabbar then hit one of two free throws with seven seconds left to cut the lead to 106-105 and the rebound was deflected out of bounds by the Celtics. The inbounds pass went to Johnson, who drove across the lane and hit a running jump hook, now known as either the “baby sky hook” or the “junior sky hook,” over two Celtics defenders to give the Lakers the win. In retrospect, this was the day that Johnson, who finished with a game high 29 points, took the mantle of the greatest player of the NBA from Bird, shifting the stakes of the rivalry going forward. 

59) June 16, 1987: Pat Riley guarantees the Lakers will repeat as champions

It may seem like a safer bet now in retrospect, but context matters. When Riley met with reporters immediately after the 1987 championship victory and guaranteed they’d repeat in 1988, the NBA was almost two decades removed from its last back-to-back champion, the ’68-’69 Celtics. That included failed attempts by the Lakers to repeat in 1973 (when they lost in the NBA Finals), 1981 (lost in the first round), 1983 (lost in the Finals), and 1986 (lost in the Conference Finals). But Riley was insistent, even repeating the claim at the ensuing championship parade, and Los Angeles eventually did make good on his promise but got some lucky breaks along the way, most notably an ankle injury to Isiah Thomas in the NBA Finals that was likely the difference maker. It’s difficult to tell now how much of Riley’s statement was old fashioned bluster and how much was, as he would later claim, a psychological strategy. Exhibit A for the latter being a correct approach is that Riley did not guarantee a third straight championship in 1989 and the Lakers ultimately came up short in the NBA Finals against the Pistons. He did, however, quietly trademark the term “three-peat,” which eventually came in handy as he was able to cash in when the Bulls utilized the phrase on their championship gear in 1993 and 1998.

60) May 17, 1987: David Robinson makes a two-year commitment of active duty in the U.S. Navy

A few weeks before the Spurs drafted him #1 overall, Robinson was not practicing in a gym or choosing an agent or inking a shoe contract. He was instead reporting for active duty at the Trident submarine base in Kings Bay, Georgia, where he would serve two years as a civil engineering officer. That was actually a special reduction from the typical five-year tour of duty assigned by the U.S. Navy, which also granted Robinson waivers to play basketball at the 1987 Pan American Games and the 1988 Olympics (he asked for permission to also play in the NBA while on active duty but was denied multiple times). When the Spurs drafted Robinson, they did so knowing that if he wasn’t signed to a contract within a year, he’d be released back into the draft pool in 1988. It became a moot point just a few days after the draft, when Robinson signed an eight-year, $26 million contract. He finally made his Spurs debut in November of 1989, eventually earning Rookie of the Year, MVP, and two championships over a 14-year career all spent with the franchise.

61) February 6, 1988: Michael Jordan wins the Slam Dunk Contest in front of his home crowd

Even now, well over 30 years later, this is still undoubtedly the peak of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. In front of a raucous home crowd at Chicago Stadium, Jordan put on a performance for the ages in a thrilling yet controversial victory. His foil was Dominique Wilkins, who had defeated him at the 1985 edition. This contest also featured further terrific competitors in Clyde Drexler, Spud Webb, and Jerome Kersey, but ‘Nique and Jordan were the centerpiece. In a wild final round, Wilkins needed a 48 to clinch the title but was given a 45 for his concluding dunk, a powerful two-handed windmill. In a city notorious for political corruption and glad-handing, this felt like an inevitable set-up to Jordan’s victory, which he clinched with his signature foul line dunk, earning a 50. It was his second consecutive victory and part of a crucial season in his career, in which he also won All-Star MVP, his first league MVP, and led the Bulls to a playoff series victory for the first time. But that image of him flying through the air en route to the Slam Dunk Contest title is the one that truly endures, one of the signature NBA moments of the decade.

62) May 22, 1988: Dominique Wilkins and Larry Bird duel it out in the Conference Semifinals

Probably the most famous one-on-one duel in NBA playoffs history, with Dominique Wilkins almost single-handedly carrying the Hawks to a stunning upset of the Celtics, who were saved by the aging gunslinger, Larry Bird. Atlanta actually had a chance to close out this series at home in game six but couldn’t get the job done, setting up this epic deciding contest. With about 10 minutes left to go in game seven and the score tied, the two superstars took over, turning the game into a virtual H-O-R-S-E competition. Wilkins had 16 points down the stretch, part of his game high of 47, but Bird poured in 20 in the final 10 minutes to give the Celtics a 118-116 win. Boston survived the bout to advance but it would turn out to be a last hurrah of the era, as they were knocked out by the Pistons in the Conference Finals. Unfortunately for the Hawks, this would be their peak with Wilkins, who would never advance even past the first round again in his career.

63) June 11, 1988: Isiah Thomas grits out an ankle sprain but the Pistons drop game six of the NBA Finals
64) June 14, 1988: “Big Game” James Worthy closes things out in game seven
65) June 14, 1988: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announces his impending retirement

One of the greatest playoff series of all time crested in the final two games, as the Lakers came from behind to win the fifth and final championship of the Showtime era. In game six, Detroit’s Isiah Thomas gave one of the grittiest performances in Finals history, rivaled only by Willis Reed in 1970. The star point guard sprained his ankle during the game but played through it, scoring 23 points in the third quarter to lead a huge Pistons comeback while basically hopping up-and-down the court on one leg. He finished with 43 points, eight assists, and six steals but it wasn’t quite enough, as Magic Johnson’s 22 points and 19 assists led the Lakers to hold on to the victory. It all came down to one controversial play, when Bill Laimbeer was called for a (arguably phantom) foul call late on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who calmly sank the ensuing winning free throws. Thomas struggled a few nights later in game seven, sitting out almost the entire second half, but the Pistons still almost pulled off the upset anyway by deploying a small ball approach that the aging Lakers struggled to contain. Worthy earned his “Big Game” nickname in this one with the only triple-double of his career (36 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists) as the Lakers held on for a 108-105 win. After the game, while Worthy was basking in the glow of his Finals MVP trophy, Abdul-Jabbar announced to reporters that the ’88-’89 season would be his last, as he would finally retire at age 42. His final season became a farewell tour, with opposing teams feting him with gifts and ceremonies.

66) July 5, 1988: Tom Chambers becomes the first unrestricted free agent, signing with the Suns

Though free agency technically started in the NBA in 1974 as a result of a landmark Oscar Robertson lawsuit, it was in a restricted form for its first 14 years. Things changed in a hurry in 1988, when a collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners produced new regulations on free agency. For the first time, a player with seven or more years of experience entering free agency could sign with another team without compensation for their previous team. This was a sea change in contract negotiations, as the restricted free agency era was essentially just glorified trades where the owners still had the majority of control. The biggest star of the first free agent class of 1988 was Chambers, an All-Star who had led the Sonics to the 1987 Western Conference Finals. He signed with the Suns and peaked over the next few years in Phoenix, getting named to three more All-Star teams and averaging as many as 27.2 points per game. Other notable signings that summer included Moses Malone to the Hawks, Kurt Rambis to the Hornets, and Walter Davis to the Nuggets.

67) September 27, 1988: The United States upsets the Soviet Union in the Olympic women’s basketball semifinals
68) September 28, 1988: The Soviet Union upsets the United States in the Olympic men’s basketball semifinals

Over the course of two days in Seoul, the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cold War basketball rivalry arguably peaked. It started with the American women’s team, led by Anne Donovan, Teresa Edwards, and Cynthia Cooper, defeating the Soviets for the first time ever in Olympic play. They hadn’t matched up in 1984 (when the U.S. won gold) or 1980 (when the Russians won gold) due to boycotts and in 1976, the U.S.S.R. had prevailed over the Americans en route to a gold medal. Things went different this time, with Cooper scoring 27 points in a 102-88 semifinals win. The U.S. went on to defeat Yugoslavia two days later for the gold medal. On the men’s side, there was controversy almost from the beginning with the 1988 team, as coach John Thompson kept his roster selection process clandestine and made some curious choices. The team was still stacked, featuring David Robinson, Danny Manning, Mitch Richmond, Stacey Augmon, Hersey Hawkins, and Dan Majerle. Unfortunately for the U.S., 1988 also featured the greatest Soviet men’s team in Olympic history, with Arvydas Sabonis at his absolute apex, flanked by Sarunas Marciulionis and Alexander Volkov. When the U.S. and U.S.S.R. matched up in the semifinals, it was their first meeting since the dubious Soviet victory in the 1972 gold medal match. But this time, the Russians didn’t need any help from the referees or FIBA officials, leading almost end-to-end in an 82-76 victory. The Americans were forced to settle for a bronze medal game win over Australia, while the Soviets went on to defeat an excellent Yugoslavia team (with Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Vlade Divac) for the gold. Though this result was certainly part of the equation for NBA players being allowed to participate in the subsequent Olympics, as opposed to popular belief it was not the catalyst, as that idea had been floating around since the ’70s.

69) December 5, 1988: Jerry Buss sells the naming rights to The Forum to Great Western Bank

There was already a long history of naming rights on arenas and stadiums in the U.S. by 1988, dating back to Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis becoming Busch Stadium in 1953. It started in the NBA with the Kings moving into ARCO Arena in 1985 but leave it to Dr. Buss to take a marketing opportunity to the next level. Early in the ’88-’89 season, he struck a 15-year deal licensing deal with Great Western, a retail bank based in the L.A. area. Thus, when Lakers fans attended an early December game against the Suns, they were amongst the first to enter The Great Western Forum. There was an initial mix of revulsion (The Forum was a Los Angeles institution which locals colloquially called “The Fabulous Forum” and found sullied by the new name) and confusion (numerous ticket buyers calling the box office supposedly hung up in the early days when the phone was answered with “Great Western Forum” because they thought they had mistakenly dialed a bank). But fans and the media eventually adapted and NBA arena naming rights became standard in the ’90s and ’00s, often to ill-fated ends. As for Great Western Bank, it was bought out by Washington Mutual in 1997 but the name stayed on the arena until the end of the contract in 2003, when it reverted back to being called just The Forum. By then, the Lakers had moved into the Staples Center but The Forum still remains open, hosting concerts, awards shows, and other major events.

70) February 1989: Shawn Kemp declares himself eligible for the NBA Draft

Thanks to a landmark lawsuit levied against the NBA by Spencer Haywood, the draft eligibility age was lowered by the league in 1975. Players no longer had to be four years removed from high school to enter the NBA Draft; in fact, they no longer required any collegiate experience at all. Scarce few prep players were willing to attempt the jump directly to the pros in the first decade-plus of possibility (Darryl Dawkins was an early notable exception). In fact, only a handful were even ready to leave school early. In 1988, only three American players were drafted without completing a full four years at the NCAA level. Two of them, J.R. Reid and Nick Anderson, were juniors, while the third, Kemp, changed the NBA forever. Though he actually attended two schools, Kentucky and Trinity Valley Community College (in Texas), Kemp never played basketball for either of them. He was barred from the court at Kentucky due to not meeting the new minimum testing requirements for Prop 48 and then kicked off the team when he allegedly stole jewelry from a teammate. Rather than find a new program, Kemp officially declared for the draft at age 19. Despite his youth and off-court red flags, the Sonics were enamored with Kemp’s athleticism and drafted him #17 overall. Over a two decade period from 1976 to 1995, he was the only NBA draftee without college playing experience, setting the stage for ’90s success stories like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.

71) February 15, 1989: Mark Aguirre is traded from the Mavericks to the Pistons in exchange for Adrian Dantley

When the Pistons traded for Dantley ahead of the ’86-’87 season, he was purported as the missing piece in a title contender. Two-and-a-half years and one NBA Finals appearance later, he was on the move again, exchanged for another new savior in Aguirre. This time, things did work out as expected, with Aguirre and the Pistons winning back-to-back championships. At the time, the move wasn’t particularly popular. Dantley was a respected veteran leader for the Pistons and many players decried his being traded. There was also a perception that Aguirre was a target for team due only to his childhood friendship with star point guard Isiah Thomas, who was reportedly at odds with Dantley. Concerns quickly dissipated though, as soon after the deadline trade Aguirre was proving his worth and fit in perfectly on the “Bad Boys,” providing defense, play making, and occasional scoring bursts. An aging and injury struck Dantley struggled in his time with the Mavericks, eventually retiring in 1991.

72) March 17, 1989: #16 seed Princeton almost upsets #1 seed Georgetown

First round upsets were already a staple of March Madness by the late ’80s but this is the game that cemented the vaunted near upset as a thrilling, annual event. It also arguably saved the automatic bid for small conferences, such as Princeton’s Ivy League, as the NCAA was reportedly considering eliminating that practice around this time. Utilizing their patented “Princeton” offense (replete with backdoor screens) and a high-pressure defense, the Tigers took a shocking 29-21 lead at halftime over a Georgetown team that came into the tournament as the #2 overall team in the country. Even in the era before cell phones and Twitter, word spread fast and TV sets around the country tuned in en masse for the second frame. Georgetown stormed back and took the lead 50-49 when Alonzo Mourning hit one of two free throw attempts with 18 seconds remaining. Mourning then blocked not one, but two potential game winners in the waning moments, knocking one out of bounds at the six second mark and then stuffing Kirk Mueller’s buzzer beater attempt. After the game, Hoyas coach John Thompson remarked “it’s an understatement to say that Princeton deserved to win.” Agreed. But in the process, they inspired countless generations of little guys with slingshots, up to and including the UMBC Retrievers, who became the first #16 seed to win a tournament game in 2018.

73) April 8, 1989: FIBA lifts its Olympics ban on professional players

As opposed to popular belief, NBA players participating in the Olympics was not the dream of then commissioner David Stern or really anyone associated with the NBA in a management capacity. Instead, it was Borislav Stanković, a former Yugoslavian player and coach who became the FIBA Secretary General in the ’70s. He made an official visit to the U.S. in 1975, watched live NBA basketball for the first time, and was immediately enamored. He dedicated the next decade-plus to ensuring that the Olympics and other FIBA competitions could include what was truly the pinnacle of basketball talent. It finally came true in 1989, when the FIBA Congress voted to allow pro players in the 1992 Olympics. The U.S. was amongst a handful of countries that voted no and Stern was initially obstinate in his refusal of officially condoning the idea. Eventually he was forced to relent and in retrospect he happily admitted that the Dream Team was a momentous step in the international growth of basketball and the NBA.

74) May 7, 1989: Michael Jordan hits “The Shot”

To this day, it’s still the signature shot in NBA history. In game five of an Eastern Conference first round series in 1989, the Bulls were on the verge of another early playoff exit when Jordan drilled a jumper so iconic it’s known simply as “The Shot.” With the Cavaliers leading 100-99, Jordan drove to the free throw line, crossed over Cleveland defender Craig Ehlo, the rose and hit a jumper at the buzzer. Poor Ehlo went from would-be hero (his clutch three-pointer in the prior play had given the Cavs the lead) to hapless while the legend of “His Airness” grew even further. It was actually the Cavaliers who were the higher seed and favorites in this series and game but it was the Bulls who would advance and go on to dominate the Eastern Conference for nearly a decade, while Cleveland struggled with a near constant barrage of injuries, questionable transactions, and heartbreaking finishes.

75) June 13, 1989: Isiah Thomas leads the Pistons to the NBA title

When the Pistons drafted Thomas with the top pick in the 1981 NBA Draft, they had made just five postseason appearances in the prior two decades, with only one series win to show for it. Additionally, the Pistons had never won a title and had not reached the NBA Finals since 1956, when they were still based in Fort Wayne. It took them a little while to get the formula right around Thomas but by the late ’80s, the Pistons were a powerhouse and multiple titles seemed inevitable. They were robbed of the 1988 championship by a Thomas sprained ankle and entered the 1989 Finals as a slight underdog as the Lakers had swept their first three series of the postseason. But this time it was Detroit getting some injury luck, as Byron Scott missed the series with an injury and Magic Johnson pulled his hamstring during game two. Though all four games were relatively tight, the Pistons closed it out in a sweep. Thomas was the spiritual leader but Joe Dumars earned Finals MVP honors for averaging a series high 27.3 points per game.

76) July 10, 1989: Phil Jackson is named head coach of the Bulls

They eventually won six championships together as arguably the greatest coach-player duo in NBA history but Jackson and Michael Jordan got off to a rocky start. Jordan’s preferred coach was Doug Collins, a greenhorn who was more than willing to hand his star the rock and step aside. This earned Jordan his first three scoring titles and MVP in ’87-’88 but wasn’t getting results in the postseason, where the overextended superstar was getting vexed by complex defenses. In came Jackson, an assistant under Collins and a disciple of Tex Winter’s triangle offense. This new system of ball allocation didn’t sit well at first with Jordan but somehow the Zen master Jackson convinced him it was for the betterment of the team and his own career.

77) August 2, 1989: Danny Ferry signs with an Italian pro team

Playing professionally in Europe is a commonplace alternative now for anyone who feels scorned by the NBA but it was quite the novelty in 1989. For Ferry, the #2 pick out of Duke, suiting up for Il Messagaro Roma in Italy’s Serie A certainly beat playing for the Clippers team that drafted him. At least they were a contender in their respective league and didn’t have a similarly sized and skilled player like Danny Manning, whom Los Angeles had drafted #1 overall just one year prior. Ferry became just the second NBA draftee to spurn a rookie contract for a European one (Jose Ortiz did so in 1987 as well, though it was specifically to retain his Olympic eligibility for his native Puerto Rico) and the bold move was a throwback to the days when players could leverage ABA and NBA franchises against each other in contract negotiations. Left with few options, the Clippers eventually traded Ferry’s rights with recent first round bust Reggie Williams to the Cavaliers in exchange for Ron Harper and two first round picks. 

78) September 18, 1989: Hurricane Hugo strikes the U.S. Virgin Islands and destroys the territory’s only Olympic-sized swimming pool

Like his older sister Tricia, who represented the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 1988 Olympics, Tim Duncan was a world class swimmer at age 13 and planned on qualifying for the 1992 Olympic games. But in 1989 the Category 5 Hurricane Hugo left a destructive wake across the Caribbean. On Duncan’s home island of St. Croix, approximately 90% of buildings were damaged or destroyed by Hugo. Another casualty was the island’s only Olympic-sized swimming pool. This left Duncan with only the ocean to use for training but a fear of sharks quickly dispelled those plans. One structure that wasn’t damaged by the hurricane was the Duncan family basketball hoop, so the teenaged Tim turned his attentions to a new sport, coached at first by his brother-in-law, a former collegiate basketball player. By his senior year of high school, Duncan was a dominant force, soon after moving on to Wake Forest and then the NBA, where he won five titles in a legendary career.

79) November 3, 1989: Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac make their NBA debuts

While the Dream Team performance at the 1992 Olympics was an obvious flashpoint in the global NBA reach, this was the date that the influx of foreign talent into the American league truly began. Teammates on the Yugoslavian national team that won the 1990 FIBA World Championships, Petrovic and Divac both made their NBA debut on opening night of the ’89-’90 season. Divac had been drafted in the first round that previous summer by the Lakers. Speaking almost no English and playing a decidedly “European” style, he struggled to adjust at first but signs of talent were there from the beginning. In his first game, against the Mavericks, Divac scored just two points in 15 minutes but added eight rebounds and three blocks. He was named 1st-Team All-Rookie and in his second season was the starting center as the Lakers reached the NBA Finals. For Petrovic, it took him three years to reach the NBA after the Trail Blazers drafted him in 1986. He finished with seven points and four rebounds in his first game, a Portland win over the Kings, and by his third season emerged as one of the top swing players in the league. Soon after reaching the NBA, the pair had their friendship strained by the dissolution of Yugoslavia, with Petrovic’s Croatia and Divac’s Serbia entering into a prolonged war. This was rendered all the more tragic in 1993, when Petrovic was killed in a car crash.

80) December 20, 1989: Bill Russell fired as vice president of the Kings

Just as the ’80s were ending and 33 years to the day that he signed his rookie contract with the Celtics, Russell marked the conclusion of his formal relationship with the NBA. He had won two championships as a player-coach of the Celtics in 1968 and 1969 but Russell’s time as just a coach was decidedly less successful. He led the SuperSonics to their first ever playoff appearance in 1975 but struggled to connect with the next generation of players and was fired just two years later. In 1987, he tried a dual role again, this time as coach and vice president of the Kings. The coaching stint was even worse this time with Russell stepping down before the end of his first season, after Sacramento compiled a 17-41 record under his watch. He stayed on as vice president through the ’88-’89 campaign but when the Kings started off ’89-’90 slowly again, Russell was fired from his executive position in late December. He has never returned to the NBA in any official capacity since, instead becoming an unofficial ambassador of the sport. Though Russell’s coaching stints in Seattle and Sacramento were subpar, he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021 based mainly on his time with Boston and his contributions as the first Black head coach in the NBA.