• On December 8, 2011, the
New Orleans Hornets, the
Los Angeles Lakers and the
Houston Rockets agreed to a trade that would send
Chris Paul to Los Angeles. NBA commissioner
David Stern nullified the trade, saying the Hornets were better off keeping Paul than accepting the terms of the deal. The league had acquired the Hornets from former owner
George Shinn, and the commissioner's office has final authority over all management decisions. Several of the other owners, who co-own the Hornets, also opposed the deal.
Cleveland Cavaliers owner
Dan Gilbert felt that the Lakers were acquiring the best player in the deal, Paul, and reducing their salary to possibly acquire
Dwight Howard. Owners believed the trade would have sent a bad message coming out of the lockout, where one goal was to give
small-market teams a chance to keep their players. Paul had long been speculated to be leaving the Hornets as a free agent after the end of the season.
Magic Johnson said the trade denial "sends a bad message to fans", and
Dwyane Wade called the situation a "mess". The three teams involved in the trade attempted to lobby the league to reverse its ruling as well as reconstruct the deal that would satisfy the league, only to be met by resistance from the league which wanted the Hornets to receive more youth and draft picks. Later, the Lakers pulled out of the trade talk. Five days later, Paul was finally traded to the
Los Angeles Clippers. • The
Toronto Raptors became the first North American sports franchise to apply
3D application to its hardwood floor, which when seen by the players and in-arena spectators appears flat, but when seen by the television audience appears popped up. It made its debut in a pre-season game against the
Boston Celtics at
Air Canada Centre on December 18. On December 21, when the two teams met at the
TD Garden, the Celtics became the first team to apply their
Twitter account on their trademark
parquet floor. • The Raptors also became the first NBA team to unveil
camouflaged uniforms, which they wore for the first time on March 21 against the
Chicago Bulls as a tribute to the
Canadian Forces. • Due to a career-ending knee injury,
Portland Trail Blazers guard and three-time All-Star
Brandon Roy announced his retirement, after only five seasons, on December 9, 2011. Roy's retirement was brief, however, as he joined the
Minnesota Timberwolves the next season. • A new shot-clock rule was put into place. Upon reaching the five-second mark, tenths of a second are displayed in order to accurately determine last-second shots. • The
Conseco Fieldhouse, the arena of the
Indiana Pacers was renamed to
Bankers Life Fieldhouse. On December 26, 2011, they played their first game in the newly named arena against the
Detroit Pistons. Likewise the
Oklahoma City Thunder's arena was renamed the
Chesapeake Energy Arena, after
Chesapeake Energy acquired naming rights. • Final season of the
Nets playing in
New Jersey. They spent a total of 36 seasons in New Jersey in four different locations (
Teaneck Armory,
Piscataway's
Rutgers Athletic Center,
East Rutherford's
Izod Center (Brendan Byrne and Continental Airlines Arena), and
Newark's
Prudential Center) from 1977 to 2012. They relocated to
Brooklyn, a
borough of New York City, the next season at the
Barclays Center, becoming the first "Big Four" sports franchise in Brooklyn since the
Brooklyn Dodgers left in 1957. • All four active NBA teams formerly in the
American Basketball Association (
New Jersey Nets (as the
New York Nets),
San Antonio Spurs (as the
Texas Chaparrals),
Denver Nuggets,
Indiana Pacers) along with the
Minnesota Timberwolves (as the
Minnesota Muskies), the
Memphis Grizzlies (as the
Memphis Tams), the
Los Angeles Clippers (as the
Los Angeles Stars), the
Charlotte Bobcats (as the
Carolina Cougars), and the
Miami Heat (as the
Miami Floridians) participated in NBA
Hardwood Classics Nights as a tribute to the ABA wearing
throwback jerseys. • On February 19 in an overtime win vs. the
Denver Nuggets,
Kevin Durant scored 51,
Russell Westbrook scored 40, and
Serge Ibaka had a triple-double marking the first time that a player scored 50+ points, with another scoring 40+ points, and another having a triple-double in the same game. • On March 25, the
Atlanta Hawks defeated the
Utah Jazz 139–133 at
Philips Arena in the first quadruple-overtime game since
November 14, 1997, when the
Phoenix Suns defeated the
Portland Trail Blazers 140–139. • On April 13,
Tom Benson, who owns the
NFL's
New Orleans Saints, agreed to buy the Hornets from the NBA for $338 million. • On April 26, the
New Jersey Nets played their last game against the
Toronto Raptors before moving to
Brooklyn,
New York. • The
Charlotte Bobcats set the single–season NBA record for the worst winning percentage, going 7–59 for a .106 winning percentage. The
1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers previously held the record with .110, but they played the typical 82–game schedule. •
Kevin Durant became the seventh player to win three consecutive scoring titles, and the first since
Michael Jordan notched the last scoring title of his career in the
1997–98 season. • The
Philadelphia 76ers became the fifth eighth seed to defeat a top seed in the playoffs, winning the first round series in six games over the
Chicago Bulls. The Bulls lost reigning MVP
Derrick Rose to an
ACL injury in Game 1, who consequently missed the rest of the series. ==Milestones and records==