On June 10, 2014,Derek Fisher signed a five-year, $25 million deal as the head coach of theNew York Knicks, instead of playing one more season with theOklahoma City Thunder. During his eighteen seasons in the league as a player, he won five NBA championships, all with theLos Angeles Lakers (2000–2002 and 2009–2010).[1]
On June 15, 2014,Shane Battier announced his retirement immediately following theMiami Heat's loss in Game 5 of the2014 NBA Finals. He was 35, and had played for thirteen seasons. He won back-to-back NBA championships with the Heat (2012–2013)[2]
On September 9, 2014,Chauncey Billups announced his retirement after 17 years of playing; the last team he played for was the Detroit Pistons, and he won a championship with them in 2004 as well as a Finals MVP that same year.
On February 26, 2015,Richard Hamilton officially announced his retirement after 14 seasons from NBA with one championship ring with theDetroit Pistons in 2004.[3]
On March 21, 2015,Steve Nash officially announced his retirement after 18 seasons with thePhoenix Suns,Dallas Mavericks andLos Angeles Lakers. Nash was contracted by the Lakers, but was sidelined by season-ending injuries during pre-season.[4]
Free agency negotiations began on July 1, 2014, when players began to sign starting on July 10, after theJuly moratorium ended. Some notable moments from free agency are:
On February 12, 2015, the Sacramento Kings demoted Tyrone Corbin from his coaching duties and replaced him with formerCoach of the YearGeorge Karl.[32][33]
The regular season began on October 28, 2014, with the defending NBA championsSan Antonio Spurs hosting the first game against theDallas Mavericks.[35] The regular season ended on April 15, 2015.Christmas Day games were played on December 25, 2014. The NBA is mulling a week-longAll-Star break in February 2015,[36] and the full schedule was released during a one-hour schedule release special on August 13, 2014, at 6:00 p.m.EDT onNBA TV.[37]
Houston clinched the #2 seed over the Los Angeles Clippers as Houston won the Southwest Division while the L.A. Clippers finished 2nd in the Pacific Division.
Memphis clinched the #5 seed over San Antonio based on a better divisional record (9–7 to 8–8).
New Orleans clinched the #8 seed over Oklahoma City based on head-to-head record (3–1).
Teams inbold 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. Teams with home court advantage are shown inItalics.
TheCleveland Cavaliers won the #1 pick in the NBA draft for the second year in a row, as well as the third time in four years and the sixth time in franchise history. It tied with theChicago Bulls in2008 for the lowest percentage possible in the modern-day draft lottery, as well as marking the second time a team got the #1 draft pick two years in a row. Their selection wasAndrew Wiggins, the second straight Canadian player to be selected as the #1 pick.
Both top selections Andrew Wiggins andAnthony Bennett were traded to theMinnesota Timberwolves forKevin Love on August 23, the soonest date allowed, with Wiggins having signed a rookie contract 30 days earlier. The trade of Wiggins also marked the second time since theNBA-ABA merger that a #1 draft pick was traded to another team without playing for his drafting team.
In September,Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson sold his share of the Hawks after self-reporting a 2012 e-mail he received that was considered inappropriate and racist. Around that same time, general managerDanny Ferry's remark that playerLuol Deng "had a bit of African in him" was leaked, resulting in Ferry taking an indefinite leave of absence and having coachMike Budenholzer taking on the job until his potential return.
On September 29, thePhoenix Suns became the first team to have two sets of brothers on the same team, withGoran Dragić's younger brotherZoran signing a two-year deal and both twin brothersMarkieff andMarcus Morris getting four-year contract extensions. All four played in a loss to theLos Angeles Clippers on November 15, and on January 2, 2015, they played together at the same time late in the fourth quarter in a 112–96 victory over thePhiladelphia 76ers.
On October 6, the NBA announced a new 9-year TV deal withESPN andTNT worth $24 billion. Starting in the2015–16 NBA season, the NBA's value increased from $930 million to $2.6 billion per year, which would also increase each team's salary cap from $63 million to around $89 million. In addition, the NBA also announced that it would host an end-of-season award show on TNT.
On October 19, theBrooklyn Nets and theBoston Celtics played a preseason game that consisted of four 11-minute quarters, instead of the regular 12-minute quarters; it decreased the overall amount of playing time to around two hours. Boston won the game 95–90.
The NBA logo assumed a new position on team jerseys, moving from the top left chest to the back atop a player's name.[92][93][94] In addition, teams who have won a championship had their uniforms adorned with a gold patch on the back, featuring the number of championships won.[95][96]
The NBA owners vote 17–13 to reform the lottery odds to reduce the chances of the worst teams in the league winning the lottery. However, the proposal failed as a 23-vote super-majority was required.[97]
On November 1, 2014,Carmelo Anthony surpassed 20,000 career points, becoming the 40th player in NBA history to do so. He reached the milestone in the 1st quarter of a 96–93 home win against theCharlotte Hornets.
On November 11,Dirk Nowitzki surpassedHakeem Olajuwon as the highest-scoring player born outside the United States and the 9th all-time, as the Mavericks came from behind 24 points down to beat Sacramento 106–98 for their 21st straight regular-season win at home against the Kings. Nowitzki hit a jumper from just inside the three-point line early in the fourth quarter to pass Olajuwon, finishing the night at 26,953 career points.[102]
On November 12,Kobe Bryant surpassedJohn Havlicek and became the all-time leader for missed field goal attempts in the league. His career-breaking record 13,418th missed shot came at 6:22 in the fourth quarter on a 14-foot fadeaway in a 107–102 loss on the road against theMemphis Grizzlies.[103]
On November 13, theDallas Mavericks led thePhiladelphia 76ers by 44 points, tying for the 2nd-largest margin at halftime. (Mavericks franchise record was broken by their own team on December 27, 2020, led theLos Angeles Clippers by 50 points, 77–27 an NBA record still stands).
On December 13,Dwight Howard reached 10,000 career rebounds.[104] At 29 years, 5 days, Howard became the third youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 career rebounds. OnlyWilt Chamberlain (28 years, 81 days) andBill Russell (28 years, 285 days) reached the milestone at a younger age.[105]
On December 14, 2014,Kobe Bryant passedMichael Jordan for third place on the all-time scoring list. He reached the mark at 5:24 in the second quarter against theMinnesota Timberwolves by making two free-throw shots. Bryant finished with 26 points in the Lakers' 100–94 victory over Minnesota.
On December 22, the Detroit Pistons waivedJosh Smith after signing him to a four-year, $54 million contract in July 2013.[106] He signed with theHouston Rockets two days later, after the Rockets waived undrafted rookieTarik Black, who signed with theLos Angeles Lakers a few days later. In Smith's debut with the Rockets, he recorded 21 points and 8 rebounds in 32 minutes in a 117–111 overtime victory over theMemphis Grizzlies on December 26. After the waivers were cleared, the Pistons went on a seven-game winning streak after starting out 5–23 with Smith on the roster.
On Christmas Day, jerseys listed players' first names instead of the traditional last names.[107] TheMiami Heat defeated theCleveland Cavaliers 101–91 on Christmas Day, spoilingLeBron James's return to Miami.
On December 26,Dirk Nowitzki passedElvin Hayes to become the 8th best all-time scorer. He scored 14 points in the Mavericks' 102–98 victory over theLos Angeles Lakers. Also that day,Jared Dudley became the first player to shoot perfectly from the field while attempting at least 10 field goals and 3 three-pointers, as he scored 24 points on 10-for-10 shooting, (4 for 4 on three-pointers) in theMilwaukee Bucks' 107–77 win over theAtlanta Hawks.
On January 2, 2015, an agreement was put in place by theAtlanta Hawks ownership to sell the franchise.
On January 5,Dirk Nowitzki passedMoses Malone to become the 7th best all-time scorer. He scored 15 points in the Mavericks' 96–88 overtime victory over theBrooklyn Nets.
On January 23,Klay Thompson scored an NBA-record 37 points in a quarter, when he was a perfect 13-for-13 from the field and 9-for-9 from three-point range in the third quarter of a 126–101 win over theSacramento Kings. He broke the previous record of 33 held byGeorge Gervin andCarmelo Anthony. The 9 three-pointers were also a league record for a quarter, surpassing the mark of 8 byMichael Redd andJoe Johnson. The 13 field goals tiedDavid Thompson's record for a quarter.[109][110]
For the month of January 2015, the entireAtlanta Hawks starting lineup (Jeff Teague,Kyle Korver,DeMarre Carroll,Paul Millsap, andAl Horford) tied for Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors. This marked the first time five players tied for the award, and the second time that multiple players from the same team tied for the award. All except Carroll would go on to become Eastern Conference All-Stars.
During the All-Star game,Russell Westbrook would record the second-highest number of points with 41 as the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 163–158. After the game, it was announced that theNew York Knicks had bought outAmar'e Stoudemire's contract and he could play wherever he wanted to. He'd end up going to theDallas Mavericks two days later.
On March 24, Dirk Nowitzki recorded his 10,000th rebound in a 101–94 victory over theSan Antonio Spurs. He became the first player to record 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,000 blocks, and 1,000 three-pointers, as well as the seventh player reach 10,000 rebounds.
On March 24, 2015,Jeremy Lin andJordan Clarkson of the Los Angeles Lakers made up the first starting Asian-American backcourt in NBA history in a 127–117 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Clarkson is Filipino-American on his father's side and Filipino on his mother's; Lin's heritage is Chinese/Taiwanese. Clarkson had a career high 30 points and three blocks, along seven assists and four rebounds. He became the youngest Laker to score 30 points since Andrew Bynum on January 21, 2009.[112] Jeremy Lin contributed with 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds.[113]
On April 8,Derrick Rose became the first player to return from a torn meniscus injury in a time-span less than 6 months. He was out for approximately 6 weeks.
All five teams in theSouthwest Division made the 2015 playoffs, marking only the fourth time all teams in a division had made the playoffs, and the first time since the entireCentral Division made it in the2005–06 NBA season. It was the first occurrence of all teams in a division making the playoffs with all teams having a winning record.
On April 11, in a game between theNew York Knicks and theOrlando Magic, the teams scored 15 combined points in the second quarter, setting an NBA record for the fewest points in a quarter.
TheNew York Knicks andLos Angeles Lakers suffered their first 60-loss seasons in franchise history. The Knicks finished 17–65, surpassing 23–59 in 1986 and 2006. The Lakers finished 21–61, surpassing their worst record of 27–55 from the previous season. It leaves theUtah Jazz as the only franchise without a 60-loss season (not until2024-25 NBA season as they suffered their first 60-loss season in a loss toCharlotte Hornets).
TheMiami Heat and theIndiana Pacers both missed the playoffs, marking the first time since2004–05 that two teams who reached the conference finals the previous post-season, failed to make the playoffs.
TheGolden State Warriors andAtlanta Hawks both achieved their first 60-win seasons in franchise history, finishing 67–15 and 60–22 and first place in their conference. Also, both teams advanced to the conference finals for the first time since1976 and1970, respectively.
On April 30, theChicago Bulls eliminated theMilwaukee Bucks 120–66 in Game 6 of the playoffs. The 54-point blowout is the largest margin of victory in a series-clinching game in NBA postseason history.[114]
TheSan Antonio Spurs became the first defending champions to be eliminated in the first round since the 2012Dallas Mavericks, and the second time since 2000.
TheHouston Rockets became the ninth team in NBA history to win a playoff series in which they faced a 3–1 deficit—in the Western Conference Semifinals against theLos Angeles Clippers.
On May 23,Stephen Curry set a new NBA record for the most 3-point FG made in a single playoffs, with 59, previously held byReggie Miller with 58 in2000. Curry would eventually finish the postseason with a total of 98 3-point FG made, 39 more than the previous record.
Both conference final teams from the East and West, notably theCleveland Cavaliers and theGolden State Warriors respectively, hold commanding 3–0 series leads, a first in NBA playoff history.
On May 25, theGolden State Warriors made 20 3-pointers (tied playoff record) andHouston Rockets had 17 to set an NBA record for most 3-pointers combined in a playoff game (37).
TheAtlanta Hawks became the fourth #1 seed to be swept in the playoffs.
