The 1998–99 New Jersey Nets season was the Nets' 32nd season in the

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

, and 23rd season in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 Unit ...

. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50. During the off-season, the Nets signed free agents Eric Murdock 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 b ...

, 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 ...

from the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

. However, the team struggled and got off to an awful start by losing 18 of their first 21 games of the regular season. Head coach

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...

was fired after a 3–17 start to the season, 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 Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted 24th overall in th ...

, 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 Wor ...

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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

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 who was also the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2019–2023. After his freshman year ...

from the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

, and acquired Jamie Feick 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" Romanian center

Gheorghe Mureșan Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (; born 14 February 1971), known as ''the Giant'' () is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player. At , he is one of the two tallest players to have played in the NBA. Early life Mureșan was born in T ...

, as the Nets finished in 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. A forward, Van Horn played for five teams in a National Basketball Association (NBA) career that spanned from 1997 to 2006. Van Horn finished his ...

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

Kerry Kittles Kerry Kittles (born June 12, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former professional basketball player. A shooting guard, Kittles played for the New Jersey Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers in an NBA career that spanned from 1996 to 2005. ...

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. Throughout his NBA career he was known as “Cold World” for his ice cold demeanor on the court. Ear ...

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 the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, and

Rony Seikaly Ronald Fred Seikaly (born May 10, 1965) is a Lebanese-American former professional basketball player. He was one of the first internationally born players to make an impact on American basketball. Considered one of the top college players from ...

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 , - , Eric Murdock , 15 , 8 , 26.7 , .395 , .364 , .808 , 2.3 , 4.4 , 1.5 , 0.1 , 7.9 , - , Jamie Feick , 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 , 22 , 6 , 18.1 , .443 , .000 , .840 , 3.1 , 0.6 , 0.5 , 0.0 , 5.5 , - , Lucious Harris , 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, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played most of his career for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A combo guard, he played college basketball ...

, 11 , 0 , 11.9 , .318 , .345 , .846 , 1.2 , 1.2 , 0.6 , 0.0 , 4.5 , - , Earl Boykins , 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 point guard from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), was selected with the tenth pick of the second round (37th overall) ...

, 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 , 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