2006 in basketball
Tournaments include international, professional and amateur and collegiate levels.
Championships
International
- 2006 FIBA World Championship:
- *Gold medal: Spain
- *Silver medal: Greece
- *Bronze medal: USA
- *MVP: Pau Gasol, Spain
- *All-tournament team:
- ** Pau Gasol
- ** Carmelo Anthony
- ** Jorge Garbajosa
- ** Manu Ginóbili
- ** Theodoros Papaloukas
- 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women
- *Gold medal: Australia
- *Silver medal: Russia
- *Bronze medal: USA
- *MVP: Penny Taylor, Australia
- Basketball at the 2006 Asian Games
- *Men's tournament:
- **Gold medal: China
- **Silver medal: Qatar
- **Bronze medal: Iran
- *Women's tournament:
- **Gold medal: China
- **Silver medal: Chinese Taipei
- **Bronze medal: Japan
Professional
Men
- NBA [2005–06 National Basketball Association|NBA season|season] and playoffs:
- *2006 NBA Finals: Miami Heat 4, Dallas Mavericks 2. MVP: Dwyane Wade
- **2006 NBA draft
- **2006 NBA All-Star Game
- EuroLeague :
- *CSKA Moscow defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 73–69 in the final
- Croatian League:
- *Cibona defeated Zadar 2–1 in the best-of-three finals
- French League:
- *Le Mans defeated Nancy 93–88 in the one-off final
- German Bundesliga:
- *RheinEnergie Köln defeated Alba Berlin 3–1 in the best-of-five finals
- Greek League:
- *Panathinaikos defeated Olympiakos 3–0 in the best-of-five finals
- Iranian Super League, 2005–06 season:
- *Saba Battery defeat Petrochimi 3–0 in the best-of-five final.
- Israel Premier League:
- *Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 96–66 in the one-off final
- Italian Serie A:
- *Benetton Treviso defeated Climamio Bologna 3–1 in the best-of-five finals
- Lithuanian LKL:
- *Lietuvos Rytas defeated Žalgiris 4–0 in the best-of-seven finals
- Philippine Basketball Association 2005–06 season:
- *Red Bull Barako over the Purefoods Chunkee Giants 4–2 in the Fiesta Conference Finals. Finals MVP: Lordy Tugade
- *Purefoods Chunkee Giants over Red Bull Barako 4–2 in the Philippine Cup Finals. Finals MVP: Marc Pingris
- Polish League:
- *Prokom Trefl Sopot over Anwil Włocławek 4–1 in the best-of-seven finals
- Russian Super League:
- *CSKA Moscow over Khimki 3–0 in the best-of-five finals
- Serbia and Montenegro Super League:
- *Partizan over Red Star 3–0 in the best-of-five finals
- Spanish ACB:
- *Unicaja Málaga over TAU Cerámica 3–0 in the best-of-five finals
- **2005–06 season, 2005–06 playoffs
- Turkish Basketball League:
- *Ülkerspor over Efes Pilsen 4–0 in the best-of-seven finals. Only three matches were actually played; under Turkish rules, Ülker was granted a 1–0 lead by virtue of its regular-season sweep of Efes.
- British Basketball League:
- *Newcastle Eagles defeated Scottish Rocks 83–68 in the one-off final
- Adriatic League:
- *FMP defeated Partizan 73–72 in the one-off final
Women
- 2006 WNBA Finals: Detroit Shock 3, Sacramento Monarchs 2
- **2006 WNBA season
- **2006 WNBA Playoffs
- **2006 WNBA draft
- **2006 WNBA All-Star Game
- *MVP: Deanna Nolan, Detroit
College
- Men
- * NCAA
- **Division I: Florida 73, UCLA 57
- **National Invitation Tournament: South Carolina 76, Michigan 64
- **Division II: Winona State 73, Virginia Union 61
- **Division III: Virginia Wesleyan 59, Wittenberg 56
- * NAIA
- **NAIA Division I: Texas Wesleyan 67, Oklahoma City 65
- **NAIA Division II: College of the Ozarks 74, Huntington 56
- * NJCAA
- **Division I: Arkansas-Ft. Smith 68, Tallahassee CC 59
- **Division II: Cecil CC 9 64, Kirkwood CC 63
- **Division III: North Lake College 78, Gloucester County College 65
- * UAAP Men's: University of Santo Tomas over Ateneo de Manila University, 2 games to 1
- * NCAA (Philippines) Seniors': San Beda College over Philippine Christian University, 2 games to 1
- Women
- * NCAA
- **Division I: Maryland 78, Duke 75 OT
- **WNIT: Kansas State 77, Marquette 65
- **Division II: Grand Valley State 58, American International 52
- **Division III Hope 69, Southern Maine 56
- * NAIA
- **NAIA Division I: Union (TN) 79, Lubbock Christian 62
- **NAIA Division II Hastings 58, College of the Ozarks 39
- * NJCAA
- **Division I: Monroe CC 76, Odessa College 64
- **Division II: Illinois Central College 71, Kirkwood CC 54
- **Division III: Monroe College 100, Mohawk Valley CC 70
- * UAAP Women's: University of Santo Tomas over Far Eastern University, 2 games to 1
Prep
- USA Today Boys Basketball Ranking #1: Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis, Indiana
- USA Today Girls Basketball Ranking #1: Christ the King, Queens, New York
- NCAA (Philippines) Juniors: San Sebastian Recoletos High School over Philippine Christian University Union High School, 2 games to 0
- UAAP Juniors: Ateneo de Manila High School over Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Educational Foundation, 2 games to 1
Awards and honors
[Naismith Memorial [Basketball Hall of Fame]]
- Class of 2006:
- * Geno Auriemma
- * Charles Barkley
- * Joe Dumars
- * Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba
- * Dave Gavitt
- * Jacques Dominique Wilkins
[Women's Basketball Hall of Fame]
- Class of 2006
- * Geno Auriemma
- * Maria Paula Gonçalves da Silva
- * Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil
- * Janice Lawrence Braxton
- * Katrina McClain Johnson
- * Barbara Stevens
Professional
- Men
- *NBA Most Valuable Player Award: Steve Nash
- *NBA Rookie of the Year Award: Chris Paul
- *NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award: Ben Wallace
- *NBA Coach of the Year Award: Avery Johnson
- *FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award: Theodoros Papaloukas, CSKA Moscow and
- *Euroscar Award: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks and
- *Mr. Europa: Jorge Garbajosa, Toronto Raptors and
- Women
- *WNBA Most Valuable Player Award: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
- *WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award: Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
- *WNBA Rookie of the Year Award: Seimone Augustus, Minnesota Lynx
- *WNBA Most Improved Player Award: Erin Buescher, Sacramento Monarchs
- *Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award: Dawn Staley, Houston Comets
- *WNBA Coach of the Year Award: Mike Thibault, Connecticut Sun
- *WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award: Deanna Nolan, Detroit Shock
- *FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award: Maria Stepanova, CSKA Samara and
Collegiate
- Combined
- *Legends of Coaching Award: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
- Men
- *John R. Wooden Award: J. J. Redick, Duke
- *Naismith College Coach of the Year: Jay Wright, Villanova
- *Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award: Dee Brown, [University of University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|Illinois]
- *Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year: J. J. Redick, Duke
- *NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player: Corey Brewer, Florida
- *USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
- *Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year: Roy Williams (coach), North Carolina
- *Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball: Jerry Colangelo
- Women
- *John R. Wooden Award: Seimone Augustus, LSU
- *Naismith College Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
- *Naismith College Coach of the Year: Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
- *Wade Trophy: Seimone Augustus, LSU
- *Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award: Megan Duffy, Notre Dame
- *Associated Press Women's College Basketball Player of the Year: Seimone Augustus, LSU
- *NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player: Laura Harper, Maryland
- *Basketball Academic All-America Team: Lindsay Shearer, Kent State
- *Carol Eckman Award: Gail Goestenkors, Duke
- *USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Courtney Paris, Oklahoma
- *Associated Press College Basketball Coach of the Year: Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina
- *List of Senior CLASS Award women's basketball winners: Seimone Augustus, LSU
- *Nancy Lieberman Award: Ivory Latta, North Carolina
- *Naismith Outstanding Contribution to Basketball: Val Ackerman
Events
- December 13- after a few months in use and complaints from players, the NBA announces it will disuse the new synthetic ball in favor of the classic leather one.
- December 16- a brawl erupted at the Madison Square Garden game between the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets.
Movies
Deaths
- February 11 — Harry Vines, American wheelchair basketball coach
- March 17 — Ray Meyer, American Hall of Fame coach of the DePaul University men's team
- April 6 — Maggie Dixon, women's coach at Army
- April 6 — Price Brookfield, American NBA player
- April 19 — Gene Rosenthal, American NBL player
- May 6 — Bob Dro, national champion at Indiana and Indianapolis Kautskys player
- May 9 — Grady Wallace, All-American and national scoring champion at South Carolina
- May 18 — Irving Meretsky, Canadian Olympic silver medalist
- July 3 — Dick Dickey, NBA player and All-American at NC State
- July 4 — Bobby Joe Mason, Harlem Globetrotters player and college All-American at Bradley
- July 21 — Alexander Petrenko, Russian player
- August 18 — Dick Hickox, American college All-American
- September 7 — Ozell Jones, American NBA player
- October 5 — Cleveland Buckner, American NBA player
- October 5 — George King, American NBA player and college coach
- October 25 — Johnny Hoekstra, American NBL player
- October 28 — Arnold "Red" Auerbach, Hall of Fame coach and president of the Boston Celtics
- November 9 — Mikhail Semyonov, Russian Olympic Silver medalist
- November 29 — Gary Alcorn, American NBA player
- December 12 — Paul Arizin, Hall of Famer for the Philadelphia Warriors who twice led the NBA in scoring
- December 13 — Lamar Hunt, original ownership partner of the Chicago Bulls
- December 21 — Warren Hair, American NBL player
- December 29 — Charlie Tyra, All-American college and NBA player