1998–99 NBA season


The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association. Due to a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, after a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. All 29 teams played a shortened 50-game regular season schedule and the 16 teams who qualified for the playoffs played a full post-season schedule. That season's All-Star Game, scheduled to be held in Philadelphia, was also canceled. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs winning their first NBA championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the 1999 NBA Finals. This was the 50th season since the BAA and NBL had merged into the NBA.

Lockout

The third lockout in the history of the NBA lasted from July 1, 1998, to January 20, 1999. NBA owners were seeking changes to the league's salary cap system and a ceiling on individual player salaries. The National Basketball Players Association opposed the owners' plans and wanted raises for players who earned the league's minimum salary.
As the labor dispute continued into September, the preseason was shortened to just two games instead of the normal eight, and training camps were postponed indefinitely. By October, it became the first time in NBA history that games were canceled due to a labor dispute. Further games were canceled by November and December, including the league's Christmas Day games and the All-Star Game. Prior to start of the season, two exhibition games were played.
An agreement between the owners and players was eventually reached on January 18, 1999. When play resumed, the regular season was shortened to 50 games per team, as opposed to the normal 82. To preserve games between teams in the same conference, much of the time missed was made up for by skipping well over half of the games played between teams in the opposite conference. As a result, some teams did not meet each other at all during the course of the shortened season.

Notable occurrences

By division

By conference

Notes
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.

Statistics leaders

NBA awards

The following players were named the Players of the Month.
MonthPlayer
February
March
April

Rookies of the month

The following players were named the Rookies of the Month.
MonthPlayer
February
March
April

Coaches of the month

The following coaches were named Coaches of the Month.
MonthCoach
February
March
April