The 1996–97 NBA season was the 27th season of 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 St ...

in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers selected big men, Ukrainian center Vitaly Potapenko with the 12th pick, and Lithuanian center

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Zydrunas Ilgauskas ( lt, link=no, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas; ; born June 5, 1975) is a Lithuanian-born American former professional basketball player who played the center position. The 7'3" Ilgauskas played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the Nationa ...

with the 20th pick in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting college basketball playe ...

. However, Ilgauskas would miss the entire season with a broken bone in his right foot. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Mark West. The Cavaliers started their season winning nine of their first twelve games, but after a 21–10 start, they lost six straight games in January while losing 11 of their next 14 games. The team played above .500 for the entire season, holding a 25–22 record at the All-Star break, but started to struggle down the stretch, losing 10 of their 16 games in March. On the final day of the regular season on April 20, 1997, the Cavaliers faced the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

at the Gund Arena, as both teams were fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bullets won 85–81 as the Cavs missed the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

, finishing 5th in the Central Division with a 42–40 record. The Cavaliers had the fifth best team defensive rating in the NBA.

Terrell Brandon Thomas Terrell Brandon (born May 20, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for three teams during his 11-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A two-time All-Star, Brandon was a key starter on ...

led the team with 19.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and was selected for the

1997 NBA All-Star Game The 1997 NBA All-Star Game was the 47th edition of the All-Star Game and commemorated the 50th anniversary of NBA. The game was played on February 9, 1997, at Gund Arena (now known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) in Cleveland. The winner of the M ...

, which Cleveland hosted. In addition, Chris Mills averaged 13.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while

Tyrone Hill Tyrone Hill (born March 19, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player and former assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks. Hill spent four years playing collegiately at Xavier University, in his la ...

provided the team with 12.9 points, 9.9 rebounds per game and shot .600 in field-goal percentage, and

Bobby Phills Bobby Ray Phills II (December 20, 1969 – January 12, 2000) was an American professional basketball player. He played shooting guard and small forward for the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets. A ...

contributed 12.6 points and 1.6 steals per game.

Danny Ferry Daniel John Willard Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and an All-American college player at Duke University. He most recently served as interim genera ...

provided with 10.6 points per game, while off the bench, second-year guard

Bob Sura Robert Sura Jr. (born March 25, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons for five different teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At , , he played as a shooting guard and point guard. Earl ...

contributed 9.2 points and 4.8 assists per game, and Potapenko averaged 5.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Following the season, Brandon and Hill were both traded 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 an off-season three-team trade, while Mills signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics, who then traded him to the New York Knicks two months later, Phills signed with the Charlotte Hornets, and West signed with the Indiana Pacers.

Offseason

Free agents

Trades

Draft picks

^*1st round pick acquired from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Mark Price William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Charlotte 49ers. As a player, he played for 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), from ...

deal.
^**2nd round pick acquired from

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

in Steve Kerr deal. * 2nd round pick (#50) traded to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

in Keith Hughes deal. Used to draft Terrell Bell.

Roster

Roster Notes

* Rookie center

missed the entire season due to a broken bone in his right foot.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

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Player stats

Regular season

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Milestones

All-Star

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Development League

References

External links

Cleveland Cavaliers on Database Basketball

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Cleveland Cavaliers Season Cleveland Cavaliers seasons Cleve Cleve