1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season

The 1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season was the ninth season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. For the first time since the 1990–91 season, Larry Johnson was not on the team's opening day roster. The Hornets received the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard, and high school basketball star Kobe Bryant, and also selected shooting guard Tony Delk from the University of Kentucky with the 16th overall pick; however, the team soon traded Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac, acquired Anthony Mason from the New York Knicks, and signed free agent Tony Smith during the off-season. The team also hired former Boston Celtics star Dave Cowens as their new head coach.

Under Cowens, and with the addition of Divac and Mason, the Hornets struggled with an 8–9 start to the regular season, but then won 21 of their next 31 games, holding a 29–19 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team signed free agent, and former All-Star forward Tom Chambers in January, then traded Scott Burrell to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Donald Royal, and traded second-year guard Anthony Goldwire, and second-year center George Zidek to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Ricky Pierce in February. However, Chambers was released to free agency after 12 games. The Hornets posted a nine-game winning streak in April, and finished in fourth place in the Central Division with a franchise-best 54–28 record, earning the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, and making it back to the NBA playoffs after a one-year absence.

Glen Rice had the best season of his career, finishing third in the league in scoring with a career-high of 26.8 points per game, while leading the Hornets with 207 three-point field goals, and shooting .470 in three-point field-goal percentage, as he was named to the All-NBA Second Team. In addition, Mason averaged 16.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while sixth man Dell Curry contributed 14.8 points per game and 126 three-point field goals off the bench, and Divac provided the team with 12.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. Meanwhile, Pierce contributed 12.0 points per game in 27 games after the trade, Matt Geiger averaged 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but only played just 49 games due to a back injury, Muggsy Bogues provided with 8.0 points, 7.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game, Delk contributed 5.4 points per game, and Smith averaged 5.0 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, Rice was selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Rice scored 26 points, and made 4 out of 7 three-point field-goal attempts off the bench, and was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, as the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 132–120. In addition, Rice also participated in the NBA Three-Point Shootout for the third consecutive year. Rice finished in fifth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Mason finished tied in ninth place; Rice also finished tied in fifth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Curry finished tied in fifth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and Cowens finished in second place in Coach of the Year voting, behind Pat Riley of the Miami Heat.

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Hornets faced off against the 3rd–seeded New York Knicks, who were led by All-Star center Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, and Sixth Man of the Year, John Starks. The Hornets lost the first two games to the Knicks on the road at Madison Square Garden, before losing Game 3 at home, 104–95 at the Charlotte Coliseum, thus losing the series in a three-game sweep.

The Hornets led the NBA in home-game attendance for the eighth, and final time during their history in Charlotte, with an attendance of 985,722 at the Charlotte Coliseum during the regular season; the team also finished with the best three-point percentage in NBA history, shooting .428 from beyond the arch. Following the season, Pierce re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks during the next season, and Smith and Royal were both released to free agency.