1989–90 NBA season

Notable occurrences

• The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Orlando Magic entered the NBA as the league's 26th and 27th franchises. The Timberwolves played their preseason schedule at the Met Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington home of the NHL's Minnesota North Stars. They played their regular season schedule at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, former home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and MLB's Minnesota Twins. They would move to smaller-capacity Target Center for the 1990–91 season. The Magic would play at Orlando Arena for the next 21 years.
• The NBA All-Star Weekend was in Miami Arena in Miami. In the 1990 NBA All-Star Game, the East defeated the West 130–113. Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers took home the game's MVP award, becoming the third player in history to win the award in a losing effort. Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks edged out Kenny Smith of the Sacramento Kings to win the Slam Dunk Contest.
• The Charlotte Hornets were aligned in the Midwest Division in the Western Conference. Charlotte would be aligned in the Central Division for good starting the next year. The league had placed the four new teams in different divisions to spread them out over their first few seasons.
• After seventeen seasons as the broadcast television home for NBA basketball, CBS Sports aired its final NBA broadcast in Game 5 of the Finals from Portland. NBC Sports would begin a twelve-season run as the league's new broadcast partner beginning the next season.
• *This was also the first season that Turner Sports aired games on its, at the time, new cable outlet Turner Network Television; this began a long relationship between TNT and the NBA that would run until the end of the 2024–25 season.
• The NBA adopted the FIBA rule that game clocks register tenths of seconds in the final minute of a quarter. This rule turns controversial during the season because of clock calibration problems in many venues; following a January 15, 1990, game at Madison Square Garden between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls where Trent Tucker sank a three-point basket with the ball put in play with one-tenth of a second remaining, the NBA mandated clock calibration and prohibited any shot made when the ball is put in play with less than three-tenths of a second remaining from counting unless it is a dunk or a tip-in. The Trent Tucker Rule would be established the following year as a result of this incident.
• All three Texas-based teams made the playoffs. This would not happen again until 2004.
• This was the last of nine consecutive seasons in which the Lakers finished as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They would not return there until 2000.
• Long-time Boston Celtics announcer Johnny Most retired after 37 years behind the microphone. Most was best known for his call of "Havlicek stole the ball!!" in the 1965 Eastern Division Finals between the Celtics and the Sixers.
• The Philadelphia 76ers won their first Atlantic Division title since the 1982–83 championship season, and the first in the post-Julius Erving era. They lost to the Bulls in the second round of the playoffs.
• Several players from Eastern Bloc countries in Europe made an impact in the NBA. Yugoslavia's Vlade Divac and Dražen Petrović, and the Soviet Union's Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Alexander Volkov were among the pioneering players from Eastern Europe who made the jump to the NBA.
• On March 28, 1990, near the end of the 1989–90 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers faced their new nemesis Michael Jordan. Needing the victory to clinch a playoff berth, Jordan set his career high with 69 points in an overtime win and putting a dent in the Cavaliers' playoff plans.
• The Spurs orchestrated the biggest turnaround, with rookie David Robinson at center. After finishing 21–61 in 1988–89, they improved by 35 games and won the Midwest Division.
• Scottie Pippen becomes the first forward in NBA history to accumulate over 200 steals with over 100 blocks in a season.

1989–90 NBA changes

• The Cleveland Cavaliers slightly changed their road uniforms, replacing the team nickname "Cavs" with the city name "Cleveland" on their jerseys.
• The Golden State Warriors changed their logo and uniforms.
• The Los Angeles Clippers slightly changed their uniforms.
• The New York Knicks changed their logo, adding more orange to their previous logo.
• The San Antonio Spurs changed their logo and uniforms.

Final standings

By conference

• z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
• c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
• y – Clinched division title
• x – Clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

NBA awards

• Most Valuable Player: Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
• Rookie of the Year: David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
• Defensive Player of the Year: Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons
• Sixth Man of the Year: Ricky Pierce, Milwaukee Bucks
• Most Improved Player: Rony Seikaly, Miami Heat
• Coach of the Year: Pat Riley, Los Angeles Lakers
• All-NBA First Team:
• *F – Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
• *F – Charles Barkley, Philadelphia 76ers
• *C – Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
• *G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
• *G – Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
• All-NBA Second Team:
• *F – Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
• *F – Tom Chambers, Phoenix Suns
• *C – Akeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
• *G – John Stockton, Utah Jazz
• *G – Kevin Johnson, Phoenix Suns
• All-NBA Third Team:
• *F – James Worthy, Los Angeles Lakers
• *F – Chris Mullin, Golden State Warriors
• *C – David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
• *G – Clyde Drexler, Portland Trail Blazers
• *G –Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons
• NBA All-Rookie First Team:
• *Tim Hardaway, Golden State Warriors
• *Pooh Richardson, Minnesota Timberwolves
• *David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
• *Sherman Douglas, Miami Heat
• *Vlade Divac, Los Angeles Lakers
• NBA All-Rookie Second Team:
• *Blue Edwards, Utah Jazz
• *Sean Elliott, San Antonio Spurs
• *Stacey King, Chicago Bulls
• *J.R. Reid, Charlotte Hornets
• *Glen Rice, Miami Heat
• NBA All-Defensive First Team:
• *Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons
• *Buck Williams, Portland Trail Blazers
• *Akeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
• *Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
• *Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons
• NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
• *Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics
• *Rick Mahorn, Philadelphia 76ers
• *David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
• *Derek Harper, Dallas Mavericks
• *Alvin Robertson, Milwaukee Bucks

Player of the week

Player of the month

Rookie of the month

Coach of the month