The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men's professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The club plays its home games at Kaseya Center, and has won three NBA championships.
Glen Anthony Rice Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star and made 1,559 three-point field goals during his 15-year career. Rice won both an NCAA championship and NBA championship during his collegiate and professional career. In recent years, Rice has taken up mixed martial arts fight promotion as owner of G-Force Fights based in Miami, Florida.
Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who has served as vice president of player programs and development for the Miami Heat since June 2009. Mourning played most of his 15-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career for the Heat.
Walter Ray Allen Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. He played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. Allen is widely considered to be one of the greatest three-point shooters of all-time, and he held the record for most three-pointers made in a career from 2011 until 2021, when he was surpassed by Stephen Curry.
Jamal Mashburn Sr. is an American entrepreneur and former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Monster Mash", Mashburn was a prolific scorer as a small forward in his 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with a career scoring average of 19.1 points per game.
Steven Delano Smith is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for Turner Sports. After a collegiate career with Michigan State, he played with several teams in his 14-season National Basketball Association career, including the Miami Heat, the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, but is perhaps best known for his five-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks which included an All-Star Game appearance in 1998. He won a championship with the Spurs in 2003. Smith was widely regarded as an excellent three-point shooter, and is one of three players to make seven 3-pointers in a quarter.
Edward Charles Jones is an American former professional basketball player who played for five teams in his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Jones played college basketball at Temple University and was the 1993–94 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He led the Owls to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. The three-time NBA All-Star was selected 10th overall in the 1994 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Andre Emmett was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and was named a consensus All-American as a senior in 2004. He had brief stints in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Jersey Nets after being selected in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft. Emmett was shot to death on September 23, 2019, in Dallas.
Christopher Claus Andersen is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Birdman", Andersen was born in Long Beach, California, grew up in Iola, Texas, and played one year at Blinn College. Andersen began his professional career in the Chinese Basketball Association and the American minor leagues. He then played in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets. He received a two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy, but was reinstated on March 4, 2008, and re-signed with the Hornets the next day. He returned to Denver later in 2008, and remained with the team until 2012. He signed with the Miami Heat in January 2013 and won a championship with them that same year. He and Oliver Lafayette are the only Blinn students to ever play in the NBA. He most recently played for Power in the Big3 league.
Anthony George Douglas Mason was an American professional basketball player. In his 13-year career he played with the New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. He averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in his 13-year NBA career. Mason earned the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1995 and led the NBA in minutes played in the following two seasons. In 1997, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team and the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He was selected to the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. Mason was a member of the 1993-1994 New York Knicks team that reached the NBA Finals.
The 1988–89 Charlotte Hornets season was Charlotte's inaugural season in the National Basketball Association. The "Charlotte Hornets", along with the Miami Heat, began play as expansion teams during the 1988–89 season; the team was originally going to be named the "Spirit", but later on changed it to the "Hornets". The team revealed a new primary logo of a hornet bouncing a basketball, and got new pinstripe uniforms, adding teal and purple to their color scheme.
The 1992–93 NBA season was the 76ers 44th season in the National Basketball Association, and 30th season in Philadelphia. The 76ers received the ninth overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft, and selected Clarence Weatherspoon from the University of Southern Mississippi. During the off-season, the team acquired Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang and Tim Perry from the Phoenix Suns, and hired Doug Moe as their new head coach. The Sixers got off to a bad start, losing 11 of their first 14 games after a 7-game losing streak between November and December, and held an 18–31 record at the All-Star break. The team also suffered two defeats that were greater than 50 points. As the NBA in the 1990s emphasized more defensive play, Moe tried to implement an up-tempo attack offense similar to his former Denver Nuggets team of the 1980s, which failed miserably. With the team holding a 19–37 record in early March, he was fired and replaced with Fred Carter. Moe would return to coaching with the Denver Nuggets in his second stint under head coach George Karl from 2005 until retirement in 2008.
The 1999–2000 NBA season was the 12th season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. Despite finishing the previous season with a 26–24 record, the Hornets received the third overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft, and selected UCLA point guard Baron Davis, and signed undrafted rookie forward Eddie Robinson during the off-season. The Hornets got off to a solid 16–7 start, posting an 8-game winning streak in December. However, tragedy struck on January 12, 2000, when guard Bobby Phills was killed in a car accident while racing with teammate David Wesley after a team practice; Wesley also had a suspended driver's license at the time. The Hornets retired Phills' #13 jersey on February 9 during a game against his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers; the team also wore a patch bearing his #13 on their jerseys for the remainder of the season. Phills played a sixth man role this season, averaging 13.6 points and 1.5 steals per game off the bench in 28 games, starting in just nine of them before his death at the age of 30.
The 2000–01 NBA season was the thirteenth season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Hornets acquired Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Otis Thorpe from the Miami Heat, and re-signed free agent Hersey Hawkins. The team won four of their first five games, then lost five straight, but then went on a six-game winning streak. The team posted two 7-game winning streaks in December, and between February and March, and held a 26–25 record at the All-Star break. The Hornets finished the season third in the Central Division with a 46–36 record, and qualified for their sixth Playoff appearance.
The 1997–98 NBA season was the 76ers 49th season in the National Basketball Association, and 35th season in Philadelphia. The 76ers had the second overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected Keith Van Horn from the University of Utah, but soon traded him to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Jim Jackson, Eric Montross, top draft pick Tim Thomas out of Villanova University, and first round draft pick Anthony Parker out of Bradley University. and signed free agent and former All-Star forward Terry Cummings during the off-season. In November, the Sixers acquired former All-Star forward Tom Chambers from the Phoenix Suns. However, after only playing just one game for the team, Chambers retired in December.
The history of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Hornets dates to 1985 when founder George Shinn first thought of bringing professional basketball to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets commenced play as an expansion team in 1988. After fourteen seasons under its original ownership, the franchise suspended operations in 2002 when Shinn transferred the basketball organization under his control to a new franchise in New Orleans. The Charlotte franchise was subsequently acquired, reactivated and renamed the Bobcats by Robert L. Johnson. After restocking its roster through their second expansion draft, the team resumed play in 2004. Johnson sold controlling interest to Hall of Fame legend and North Carolinian native Michael Jordan in 2010. Jordan, who restored the club's original name in 2014, sold the team to group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin in 2023. The franchise has reached the postseason twelve times and made ten playoff appearances, although as of 2024 they are the oldest club in all of North American major professional sports to have never won a division championship.
Joshua Michael Richardson is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers, earning first-team all-conference honors in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as a senior in 2015. He was selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft by the Miami Heat and has also played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and New Orleans Pelicans.
The 2017–18 NBA season was the 72nd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 17, 2017, earlier than previous seasons to reduce the number of "back-to-back" games teams were scheduled to play, with the 2017 Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers hosting a game against the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The 2018 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 18, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. The regular season ended on April 11, 2018. The playoffs began on April 14, 2018 and ended on June 8 with the Golden State Warriors defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Caleb Martin is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the NC State Wolfpack and the Nevada Wolf Pack. He was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year for the 2017–18 season by the league's coaches. He is the twin brother of Cody Martin.
