• The
2008 NBA All-Star Game was played at the
New Orleans Arena, home of the
New Orleans Hornets, on February 17, 2008, with the East winning 134–128 and
Cleveland's
LeBron James being named the MVP. Every single All-Star Game participant would end up in the NBA playoffs, with the exception of
Brandon Roy of the
Portland Trail Blazers and
Dwyane Wade of the
Miami Heat. • The Hornets returned to
New Orleans, Louisiana full-time, after splitting home games during the previous two seasons with New Orleans and
Oklahoma City due to damage caused by
Hurricane Katrina. • The NBA extended its eight-year television contract with
Time Warner's
TNT and
The Walt Disney Company's
ABC and
ESPN through 2016. •
Sacramento Kings small forward
Ron Artest and
Golden State Warriors shooting guard
Stephen Jackson were suspended for the first seven games of the season. • The
Orlando Magic got approvals in the last week of July for a
new arena, which was ready for the 2010–11 season. • After spending 12 seasons with the
Minnesota Timberwolves,
Kevin Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics in exchange for seven players, the largest trade in NBA history for one player. • On November 2, 2007, the
Seattle SuperSonics made their plans to move to
Oklahoma City official. • On December 23, 2007,
Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to score 20,000 points at age 29 years, 122 days old, surpassing
Wilt Chamberlain's previous record of 29 years, 134 days old. • On December 24, 2007, the
Chicago Bulls fired head coach
Scott Skiles after a 9–16 start.
Jim Boylan was named the interim head coach for the remaining games in the season three days later. • On January 11, 2008, NBA commissioner
David Stern granted the Miami Heat a 51.9-second replay on their overtime game on December 19, 2007, versus the
Atlanta Hawks because the official scorer ruled incorrectly that
Shaquille O'Neal was fouled out, when he was on his fifth foul. The Hawks were fined $50,000 for their "gross negligence". The replay was held on March 8, 2008, before the teams' next meeting. This was the first replay since December 1982 when then-NBA commissioner
Larry O'Brien granted a replay on a double-overtime game between the
San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. This replay was continued despite O'Neal having been traded to the
Phoenix Suns. The Hawks went on to win the replay. • February 2008 was marked by several major trades by some of the league's top teams. Some of the more notable trades include: •
Pau Gasol going from the
Memphis Grizzlies to the Los Angeles Lakers for
Kwame Brown,
Javaris Crittenton,
Aaron McKie, draft rights to his brother
Marc Gasol, and two first-round draft picks in
2008 and
2010. •
Shaquille O'Neal going from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns in return for
Shawn Marion and
Marcus Banks. •
Mike Bibby going from the
Sacramento Kings to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for
Anthony Johnson,
Tyronn Lue,
Shelden Williams,
Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second-round draft pick. •
Jason Kidd, along with
Malik Allen and
Antoine Wright going from the
New Jersey Nets to the
Dallas Mavericks in exchange for
Devin Harris,
DeSagana Diop,
Maurice Ager,
Trenton Hassell, retired
Keith Van Horn, two first-round draft picks and $3 million. •
Kurt Thomas going from the
Seattle SuperSonics to the
San Antonio Spurs in exchange for
Brent Barry,
Francisco Elson and a
2009 first-round draft pick. Barry was immediately waived by the Sonics, and later re-signed by the Spurs. • A three-team deal between
Cleveland,
Chicago and Seattle that saw
Ben Wallace and
Joe Smith, a 2009 second-round pick, Sonics forward
Wally Szczerbiak and guard
Delonte West all go to Cleveland, Cavs forwards
Drew Gooden and
Cedric Simmons, guards
Larry Hughes and
Shannon Brown go to Chicago, Cavs forwards
Ira Newble and
Donyell Marshall, and Bulls forward
Adrian Griffin go to Seattle. •
Bonzi Wells and
Mike James going from the
Houston Rockets to the
New Orleans Hornets for
point guard Bobby Jackson. • On February 28, 2008,
Cleveland Cavaliers'
LeBron James became the youngest player to score 10,000 points at age 23 years and 59 days old, surpassing
Kobe Bryant's previous record of 24 years and 193 days old. • From January 29, 2008, to March 18, 2008, the
Houston Rockets won 22 consecutive games, notching the
fourth-longest winning streak in NBA history. • The Boston Celtics broke the record for the best single-season turnaround in NBA history by improving from 24 wins in
2006–07 to 66 wins this season, a total of 42 games. The previous record of 36 games was held by the
1997–98 San Antonio Spurs, who improved from 20 to 56 wins. • The Atlanta Hawks made the playoffs for the first time since
1999, ending the
league's longest playoff drought. • The
Golden State Warriors missed the playoffs despite finishing the regular season with a 48–34 record. • On April 28, 2008,
Pat Riley announced that he would step down as the Miami Heat head coach after leading the team to a 15–67 record. Former Heat assistant coach
Erik Spoelstra was announced as his replacement. Riley remained as team president. • The
New Orleans Hornets (as of 2013, the Pelicans) won their team's first playoff series in franchise history defeating the
Dallas Mavericks 4–1. They lost a seven-game series to the
San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals. • After losing in the first round of the playoffs,
Dallas Mavericks coach
Avery Johnson was fired as head coach. Former Pacers coach
Rick Carlisle was named as Johnson's replacement. •
Mike D'Antoni agreed to a four-year, $24 million contract with the
New York Knicks. The team D'Antoni left, the Phoenix Suns, replaced him with
Terry Porter. • The
2008 NBA Finals featured No. 1 seeds from both conferences for the first time since
2000. The Boston Celtics, who earned their first finals appearance since
1987, faced the Los Angeles Lakers, reviving a classic rivalry not seen since the Lakers beat the Celtics 4–2 in 1987. This time the Celtics prevailed 4–2 over the Lakers. •
Flip Saunders was dismissed as
Detroit Pistons head coach, four days after the Celtics beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Detroit's game 4 win over Boston marked the last and most recent playoff win as of 2021 for the Motor City as they began to rebuild for the next several years—longtime Pistons guard
Chauncey Billups was traded to the
Denver Nuggets for
Allen Iverson after the first few games in the
2008–09 season, and several players were signed and traded away, which marked the end of the mid-2000s Pistons era. • On June 17, 2008, after a rough 26-game playoff journey, the Boston Celtics won their record 17th NBA championship with a six-game NBA Finals triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers. • Beginning with this season, all NBA broadcasts on
ESPN,
ABC and
TNT include interviews with the head coaches by the courtside reporter prior to the second and fourth quarter of games. The visiting team's coach is interviewed before the second, the host team's coach is interviewed before the fourth quarter.
Coaching changes ==2007–08 logo and uniform changes==