The NBA adopts the three-official system used in college basketball permanently. The league experimented with three officials per game in 1978–79, but went back to two officials per game for the next nine seasons, although they actually have three with the inclusion of an alternate referee for all playoff games and selected regular season games.
Michael Jordan records ten triple-doubles in eleven games near the end of the season.
Prior to the season, the first-year Hornets announce that they choose
teal as their primary color, which gave them immediate attention. In the next decade, expansion teams in the other professional sports leagues (most notably the
San Jose Sharks of the
NHL, the
Florida Marlins of
Major League Baseball's
NL, and the
Jacksonville Jaguars of the
NFL) further popularized the use of the color. The Hornets also popularized the use of
pinstripes on the uniforms, which were later adopted by the
Orlando Magic,
Chicago Bulls (alternates only),
Toronto Raptors,
Indiana Pacers and the current Charlotte Hornets' predecessor franchise, the Bobcats.
The
Chicago Bulls started a playoff tradition by wearing black sneakers. Prior to that, the
Boston Celtics were the only team to wear black sneakers. Following the Bulls' unlikely playoff run, other teams began adopting the style, beginning with the
Philadelphia 76ers in 1990.
The
Los Angeles Lakers became the first team to sweep two consecutive best-of-seven series.
The Celtics, who had never won fewer than 57 games in any of the previous nine seasons, slump to 42 as
Larry Bird played only six games due to injuries.
The
Indiana Pacers had four different head coaches during the season, a rare occurrence that has not happened since.
The first postponement of an NBA game due to a civil disturbance. In the wake of the Miami riots, the game between the
Miami Heat and
Phoenix Suns on January 17, 1989, was postponed.
Utah Jazz coach
Frank Layden, citing burnout, resigns from the Jazz after 17 games and an 11–6 record. Assistant
Jerry Sloan begins the first season of 23
for the Utah Jazz, at the time of his retirement, the longest tenure of any professional coach for one city and franchise, but since surpassed by
Gregg Popovich of the
San Antonio Spurs.
This was the only season for
Ricky Berry, who was selected by the
Sacramento Kings with the 18th overall pick in the
1988 NBA draft, who committed suicide during the off-season.
On January 6, 1989,[1] the
Bullets franchise played its first regular season game in
Baltimore since
1973; this was the first of 35 regular season "home" games the Bullets played in Baltimore through the
1996–97 season.[2]
Akeem Olajuwon becomes the only player in NBA history to accumulate over 200 steals with over 200 blocks in a season.[3]
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
x – Clinched playoff spot
Expansion
The League expands from twenty-three to twenty-five franchises, with new
expansion teams in Charlotte and Miami.
The Heat began its season as a member of the Western Conference despite its geographical position, enduring its longest road trips when playing Western Conference teams. It also began the season 0–17, at the time the worst start in NBA history. The Hornets finished at 20–62. Such records are typical of expansion NBA franchises in their initial seasons, with 15–67 being the poorest record repeated by the
Cavaliers,
Grizzlies,
Rockets, and
Mavericks, as well as the
Heat.[4] The Sacramento Kings were belatedly moved to the Pacific Division in their fourth season after leaving Kansas City.
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.