As winning basketball continued to elude the Wolves, Ratner and Wolfenson nearly sold the team to New Orleans interests in 1994 before NBA owners rejected the proposed move.

In 2006, there was a campaign to build a new $ 600 million facility in downtown Sacramento, which was to be funded by a quarter cent sales tax increase over 15 years ; voters overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures Q and R, leading to the NBA publicly calling for a new arena to be built at another well-known Sacramento facility, Cal Expo, the site of California's state fair.

Manute Bol was selected in the 5th round by the Clippers, but the NBA rejected the pick on technicalities.

Themes in the United States that have become associated with a sport include Johnny Pearson's " Heavy Action " ( used for many years as an intro to Monday Night Football ), " Roundball Rock " ( composed by John Tesh as the theme for the NBA on NBC during the 1990s and early 2000s ), " Bugler's Dream " ( used in ABC and NBC's coverage of the Olympics ) and the theme to ESPN's nightly sports highlight show, SportsCenter.

For a short time, Salley provided analysis for NBC's NBA Showtime.

He also did play-by-play for the Major League Baseball National League Division Series and National League Championship Series ( on both occasions, teaming with Joe Morgan ), did play-by-play for The NBA on NBC, hosted NBC's daytime coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics from Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the 1995 World Championships of Figure Skating and served as the studio host for The NFL on NBC.

During NBC's partnership with the NBA in the 1990s, the league rose to unprecedented popularity for the sport, with ratings surpassing the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the mid-eighties.

NBC's coverage of the NBA began on Christmas Day each season, with the exception of their inaugural season ( which featured a November game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs ), the 1998-99 season ( no Christmas games played due to the lockout ) and their final season ( which included two early season games featuring the return of Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards ).

In addition, unlike NBC or NBC's predecessor CBS, ABC doesn't televise the NBA All-Star Game ( instead, going to TNT ).

Walton and Jones worked the Christmas Day 2005 broadcast between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons for ABC, the first game they called together since Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals for NBC ( NBC's last NBA telecast to date ).

In the past, Harris ' duties at other networks have included covering the NBA playoffs for TNT, and being a commentator for NBC's special high-definition coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Its leadoff single, " Closer to Me ", was a near Top 40 hit, and a second release, " Winning It All ", gained some notice due to extensive play during NBC's NBA Finals coverage, NBA Superstars series featuring Larry Bird, the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics and the film The Mighty Ducks.

But Elton saw that the 76ers offered him more money ( he regarded their offer as the " Philly-Max "), and a better chance at winning an NBA Championship playing in the Eastern Conference.

" The NBA made an offer that wasn't what Isiah expected ," said Brendan Suhr, former coach and co-owner of the CBA's Grand Rapids Hoops, " so he decided not to sell the league at that time.

However, unlike Stojaković, Bodiroga declined the offer to play in the NBA, choosing instead to remain in Europe.

In 1975 and 1976, the ABA proposed a champion game between the leagues at the end of the season much like the NFL-AFL championship, but the NBA turned each offer down.

Had the NBA agreed to the network's offer, it would have been the first sports league to undergo a decline in rights fees.

Floyd was the subject of heightened media attention in October 2006, when 14-year-old high school freshman Dwayne Polee Jr., son of former NBA player Dwayne Polee, verbally accepted a scholarship offer from Floyd.

This is typically done to allow the eventual acquiring team to offer the player a higher salary and / or a greater number of years than would ordinarily be permitted under the NBA salary cap.

However, because the team is the player's current contract holder, the team can offer the player more money per year than any other team and can sign the player to a longer contract ( per the NBA collective bargaining agreement ).

In April 2002, Telcel became the first Mexican operator to offer premium information services through its SMS capabilities, including weather reports, financial quotes, entertainment news and even had relationships with the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) and the National Football League ( NFL ) of the United States.

Bob Costas took over for Albert on the basketball side in the 1997 – 98 season before stepping down after the 2000 NBA Finals for Albert's return.

Kobe Bryant won his first Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award award in his 13th season after leading the Lakers to their first NBA championship since the departure of Shaquille O ' Neal.

In 2004, two years after the Hornets ' relocation to New Orleans, the NBA returned to North Carolina as the Charlotte Bobcats were formed as an expansion team.

* June 19 – American college basketball player Len Bias suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft.

The ABA also cleverly went after four of the best referees in the NBA: Earl Strom, John Vanak, Norm Drucker and Joe Gushue, getting them to " jump " leagues by offering them far more in money and benefits.

They became only the third team in NBA history to win the final series after being down 0 – 2, following the 1969 Boston Celtics and the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers.

Near the end of the season, with a playoff-push faltering, Weisbrod fired Davis after leading Davis to believe he was going to be the team's head coach for the entire 2004 – 05 NBA season.

The NBA thus returned to Philadelphia one year after the Warriors had left for San Francisco.

In the next four seasons, the 76ers would fall short of the NBA Championship, even after changing coaches to former 76ers great Billy Cunningham.

Nonetheless, their 12 – 1 playoff record is the second-best in league history after the 2000 – 2001 Lakers, who went 15 – 1 en route to the NBA Title, coincidentally beating the 76ers in the Finals ( after suffering their only defeat that postseason in Game 1 ).

Shortly after the season ended, O ' Brien was fired and replaced by the popular Maurice Cheeks, who played for the team from 1978 – 89, and was the starting point guard for the 1983 NBA Champions.

Collins played for the Sixers for his entire NBA career after being the first overall pick in the 1973 draft, and had previously coached the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, and the Washington Wizards.

The Bulls ' six NBA Championships are third most in NBA history, after the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

The Chicago Bulls are actually the third NBA team in Chicago, after the Packers – Zephyrs ( now the Washington Wizards ) and the Stags ( 1946 – 50 ).

In the summer of 1984 the team's fortunes changed forever when it received the third pick of the 1984 NBA Draft, after Houston and Portland.

The Bulls started the 2007 – 08 NBA season by losing 10 of their first 12 games and on December 24, 2007, after a 9 – 16 start, the Bulls fired head coach Scott Skiles.

After breaking the record for most overtimes played in a NBA Playoffs Series, the Boston Celtics managed to overcome the Bulls after 7 games and 7 overtimes played.

The Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 4 – 1 in the first round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs but, in a huge upset, lost to the Boston Celtics after leading the series 2 – 1, with the Celtics proceeding to win 3 consecutive games ( afterwards, the Celtics went to the 2010 NBA Finals and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 4 – 3.

Shortly after James made his announcement, Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cavaliers, announced in an open letter on the Cavaliers website that James ' decision was a " cowardly betrayal " and promised a NBA championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers before LeBron James wins one, although James would win a championship before the Cavs with the Heat's championship win in 2012.

Concerned about Brown's health, and angered over his alleged pursuit of other jobs during the season, the Pistons bought out his contract soon after the 2005 NBA Finals.

But in the Playoffs, after a 56 – 26 regular season, the Pacers survived the upset-minded Bucks in round one, handled the 76ers in the second round and finally broke through to the NBA Finals by virtue of a six-game East Finals victory over the New York Knicks.