The

1998–99 NBA season The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). 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 N ...

was the Nets' 32nd season in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, and 23rd season in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

. On March 23, 1998, the owners of all 29 NBA teams voted 27–2 to reopen the league's

collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

, seeking changes to the league's salary cap system, and a ceiling on individual player salaries. The

National Basketball Players Association The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Uni ...

(NBPA) opposed to the owners' plan, and wanted raises for players who earned the league's minimum salary. After both sides failed to reached an agreement, the owners called for a

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...

, which began on July 1, 1998, putting a hold on all team trades, free agent signings and training camp workouts, and cancelling many NBA regular season and preseason games. Due to the lockout, the

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a ...

, which was scheduled to be played in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on February 14, 1999, was also cancelled. However, on January 6, 1999, NBA commissioner

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of ...

, and NBPA director Billy Hunter finally reached an agreement to end the lockout. The deal was approved by both the players and owners, and was signed on January 20, ending the lockout after 204 days. The regular season began on February 5, and was cut short to just 50 games instead of the regular 82-game schedule. In the off-season, the Nets signed free agents

Eric Murdock Eric Lloyd Murdock (born June 14, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1991 NBA draft. Biography Murdock grew up in Bridgewater Township, New ...

and

Scott Burrell Scott David Burrell (born January 12, 1971) is an American basketball coach and former player who is currently the men's basketball head coach at Southern Connecticut State University. He has played internationally and was also a professional bas ...

, and acquired

Jim McIlvaine James Michael McIlvaine (born July 30, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Washington Bullets, Seattle SuperSonics, and New Jersey Nets. The 7-fo ...

from the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

. However, they struggled and got off to a poor start losing 18 of their first 21 games. Head coach

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College C ...

was fired after a 3–17 start, and was replaced with assistant

Don Casey Lawrence Donald Casey (born June 17, 1937) is an American former professional and collegiate basketball coach. He has coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and the New Jersey Nets—each for a season ...

. At mid-season,

Sam Cassell Samuel James Cassell Sr. (born November 18, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former point guard who serves as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted 24th overall i ...

, who was out with an ankle injury after four games, was traded along with

Chris Gatling Chris Raymond Gatling (born September 3, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. Gatling played for many National Basketball Association (NBA) teams from 1991 to 2002. He played for the US national team in the 1990 FIBA Worl ...

to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

in a three-team trade, as the Nets acquired

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach in the Chinese Basketball Association. After his freshman year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was selected as th ...

from the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

, and acquired

Jamie Feick Jamie Feick (born July 3, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd round (48th overall) of the 1996 NBA draft. A center from Michigan State University, Feick played in the ...

from the Bucks. As the season progressed, the Nets were dealt with a blow when

Jayson Williams Jayson Williams (born February 22, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 11 seasons, primarily with the New Jersey Nets. He played his first three seasons with the ...

suffered a severe knee injury in April, and was out for the remainder of the season after 30 games. Near the end of the season, the team signed free agent and 7' 7" center

Gheorghe Mureșan Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (; born 14 February 1971), also known as "Ghiță" (), is a Romanian former professional basketball player. At , he is tied with Manute Bol for the tallest player ever to have played in the NBA. Early life Mureșan was ...

, as the Nets finished last place in the Atlantic Division with a disappointing 16–34 record. Marbury averaged 23.4 points and 8.7 assists per game with the Nets in 31 games, while second-year star

Keith Van Horn Keith Adam Van Horn (born October 23, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Van Horn played for the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball ...

averaged 21.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. In addition,

Kerry Kittles Kerry Kittles (born June 12, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He was raised in New Orleans and attended St. Augustine High School (New Orleans), St. Augustine High School. He was an assistant coach at Princeton ...

provided the team with 12.9 points and 1.7 steals per game, while

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Early life Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. ...

contributed 11.8 points and 2.7 steals per game, and Williams averaged 8.1 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. Murdock provided with 7.9 points, 4.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game in only just 15 games due to a groin injury, and Burrell contributed 6.6 points per game. Following the season, Murdock was traded to the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, and

Rony Seikaly Rony is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Ronielson da Silva Barbosa, Brazilian footballer better known as Rony *Rony Ahonen (born 1987), Finnish ice hockey defenceman *Rony Bakale (born 1987), Olympic swimmer from the Republ ...

was released to free agency and then retired. For the season, the Nets added new gray alternate road uniforms with dark navy side panels, which were slightly redesigned in 2000.

Offseason

Draft picks

The Nets had no draft picks in 1998.

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Regular season

, - ,

, 31 , 31 , 39.8 , .439 , .367 , .832 , 2.6 , 8.7 , 1.0 , 0.1 , 23.4 , - ,

, 42 , 42 , 37.5 , .428 , .302 , .859 , 8.5 , 1.5 , 1.0 , 1.3 , 21.8 , - ,

, 4 , 3 , 25.0 , .429 , .143 , .935 , 1.5 , 4.8 , 0.8 , 0.0 , 18.0 , - ,

, 46 , 40 , 34.1 , .370 , .316 , .772 , 4.2 , 2.5 , 1.7 , 0.6 , 12.9 , - ,

, 50 , 47 , 32.1 , .398 , .118 , .683 , 4.9 , 2.5 , 2.7 , 0.5 , 11.8 , - ,

, 30 , 30 , 34.0 , .445 , .000 , .565 , 12.0 , 1.1 , 0.8 , 2.0 , 8.1 , - ,

Doug Overton Douglas M. Overton (born August 3, 1969) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. Playing career Prior to his NBA career, Overton spent a season with the Illawarra Hawks of the Australian NBL. He credits his experience ...

, 8 , 1 , 21.8 , .439 , .500 , .857 , 2.1 , 2.0 , 0.4 , 0.1 , 8.0 , - ,

, 15 , 8 , 26.7 , .395 , .364 , .808 , 2.3 , 4.4 , 1.5 , 0.1 , 7.9 , - ,

, 26 , 16 , 32.7 , .504 , , .717 , 11.0 , 0.9 , 1.0 , 0.7 , 6.8 , - ,

, 32 , 10 , 22.1 , .361 , .389 , .810 , 3.7 , 1.4 , 1.3 , 0.3 , 6.6 , - , Chris Carr , 28 , 2 , 13.0 , .374 , .379 , .694 , 2.1 , 0.6 , 0.3 , 0.0 , 6.6 , - ,

Mark Hendrickson Mark Allan Hendrickson (born June 23, 1974) is an American former baseball and basketball player. Hendrickson was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and played power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Continental Bask ...

, 22 , 6 , 18.1 , .443 , .000 , .840 , 3.1 , 0.6 , 0.5 , 0.0 , 5.5 , - ,

Lucious Harris Lucious H. Harris (born December 18, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round (28th pick overall) of the 1993 NBA draft. Harris has played for the Mavericks, Philadelp ...

, 36 , 5 , 16.7 , .403 , .220 , .750 , 1.9 , 0.9 , 0.5 , 0.2 , 5.4 , - ,

, 18 , 2 , 15.6 , .371 , .000 , .500 , 3.6 , 0.7 , 0.4 , 0.2 , 4.7 , - ,

Damon Jones Damon Darron Jones (born August 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A combo guard, he played college baske ...

, 11 , 0 , 11.9 , .318 , .345 , .846 , 1.2 , 1.2 , 0.6 , 0.0 , 4.5 , - ,

Earl Boykins Earl Antoine Boykins (born June 2, 1976) is a former American professional basketball player. Standing at in height, he is the second-shortest player in NBA history behind Muggsy Bogues, who is tall. He was the head coach for the Douglas Cou ...

, 5 , 0 , 10.2 , .476 , .200 , , 0.8 , 1.2 , 0.2 , 0.0 , 4.2 , - , David Vaughn , 10 , 0 , 10.3 , .542 , , .800 , 3.4 , 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.8 , 3.4 , - , Brian Evans , 11 , 0 , 11.0 , .324 , .364 , 1.000 , 1.5 , 1.3 , 0.3 , 0.3 , 2.7 , - ,

Elliot Perry Elliot Lamonte Perry (born March 28, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. The 6'0" (1.83 m) point guard from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), was selected with the tenth pick of the second round (3 ...

, 30 , 0 , 8.1 , .349 , .391 , .750 , 0.9 , 1.2 , 0.5 , 0.0 , 2.6 , - ,

, 22 , 1 , 12.2 , .431 , , .667 , 2.5 , 0.1 , 0.4 , 1.5 , 2.2 , - ,

, 9 , 0 , 9.8 , .200 , , .389 , 2.3 , 0.2 , 0.4 , 0.7 , 1.7 , - , William Cunningham , 15 , 6 , 10.7 , .167 , , .000 , 1.9 , 0.1 , 0.1 , 0.7 , 0.4 , - ,

Gheorghe Muresan Gheorghe is a Romanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to: Given name * Gheorghe Adamescu * Gheorghe Albu * Gheorghe Alexandrescu * Gheorghe Andriev * Gheorghe Apostol * ...

, 1 , 0 , 1.0 , .000 , , , 0.0 , 0.0 , 0.0 , 0.0 , 0.0 Player Statistics Citation:

Offseason

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Regular season

Awards and records

Transactions

References

See also