1996–97 Philadelphia 76ers season

The 1996–97 Philadelphia 76ers season was the 48th season for the Philadelphia 76ers in the National Basketball Association, and their 34th season in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before the beginning of the season, the 76ers won the NBA draft lottery, and selected point guard Allen Iverson out of Georgetown University with the first overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. After two seasons at Georgetown, Iverson quickly established himself as one of the premier point guards in the NBA. During the off-season, the 76ers signed free agents Don MacLean, Mark Davis, Lucious Harris, and Michael Cage, and hired Johnny Davis as their new head coach. The team also moved into the new 20,000 plus seat CoreStates Center, after calling The Spectrum home from 1967 to 1996.

Under Davis, and with the addition of Iverson, the 76ers played around .500 in winning percentage with a 7–8 start to the regular season. However, the team struggled and lost 23 of their next 24 games, including 10 and 13-game losing streaks posted respectively, and held a 12–34 record at the All-Star break. The 76ers lost ten of their final eleven games of the season, and finished in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with a 22–60 record, missing the NBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

Iverson had a successful rookie season, scoring 30 points in his NBA debut in the 76ers' 111–103 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, at the CoreStates Center on November 1, 1996, and finishing the regular season averaging 23.5 points, 7.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and also leading the team with 155 three-point field goals; he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In addition, second-year star Jerry Stackhouse finished second on the team in scoring with 20.7 points per game, and 102 three-point field goals, while Derrick Coleman averaged 18.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, but only played 57 games due to a finger injury, and Clarence Weatherspoon provided the team with 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Off the bench, MacLean contributed 10.9 points per game, but only played just 37 games due to a hip injury, while Davis provided with 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and starting center Scott Williams averaged 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, Iverson was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference Rookie team. Iverson scored 19 points along with 9 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, and was named the Rookie Game's Most Valuable Player, as the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 96–91. In addition, Iverson was also selected to participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, but withdrew due to injury, and was replaced with Darvin Ham of the Denver Nuggets.

Iverson also set a rookie record of scoring 40 or more points in five consecutive games in April, plus scoring a season-high of 50 points in a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the Gund Arena on April 12, 1997, despite the 76ers losing all five of those games. Iverson finished tied in 17th place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Davis finished tied in seventh place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

The 76ers finished 26th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 610,974 at the CoreStates Center during the regular season, which was the fourth-lowest in the league. Davis and General Manager Brad Greenberg were both fired after Iverson's first season with the club. Also following the season, MacLean, Harris and Cage were all traded to the New Jersey Nets.