• The New Jersey Nets moved to
Brooklyn and became the
Brooklyn Nets, returning to the state the team played in when it first joined the NBA from the ABA back in 1976. The Nets now play at the
Barclays Center. The first game there would have pitted the Nets against the
New York Knicks on November 1, but due to the
damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, it was postponed to November 26. Instead the Nets opened the new season in Brooklyn against the
Toronto Raptors on November 3, winning the game by a score of 107–100. • The
Sacramento Kings' home arena, the
Power Balance Pavilion, was renamed the
Sleep Train Arena on November 1. The arena's naming rights were acquired by
The Sleep Train mattress company in the wake of Power Balance's legal issues and eventual bankruptcy. • The
center position in the
All-Star Game player balloting was eliminated, beginning with the 2013 game, citing a more perimeter-oriented game and increased use of smaller, faster lineups. Fans can now select three generic
frontcourt players in addition to any two
guards. • The
Orlando Magic traded franchise star center
Dwight Howard to the
Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers then sent
Andrew Bynum to the
Philadelphia 76ers, who in turn sent
Andre Iguodala to the
Denver Nuggets. Another trade also netted the Lakers franchise star point guard
Steve Nash from the
Phoenix Suns, who in turn sent them four total draft picks. • In the last trade before entering the regular season, the
Oklahoma City Thunder sent
Sixth Man of the Year James Harden,
Daequan Cook,
Lazar Hayward and
Cole Aldrich to the
Houston Rockets in exchange for
Kevin Martin,
Jeremy Lamb, and three future draft picks. • On November 30, 2012, the
San Antonio Spurs were fined $250,000 for sitting out
Tim Duncan,
Tony Parker,
Manu Ginóbili and
Danny Green prior to a
nationally televised Thursday game against the
Miami Heat, citing as an act "detrimental to fan interest and to the league". • On December 5, 2012,
Kobe Bryant became the
5th player (
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
Karl Malone,
Michael Jordan, and
Wilt Chamberlain) all time and the fourth Laker (Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, and Malone) to score 30,000 career points in NBA history, finishing the game with 29 points against the New Orleans Hornets in a 103–87 win. His teammate
Metta World Peace also became the 6th player (
Gary Payton,
Reggie Miller,
Jason Kidd,
Paul Pierce, and Bryant) all to record 12,000 points, 4,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals, and 1,000 3-pointers made. • On December 21, 2012, the
Denver Nuggets shot a record-low 0–22 from the three–point area in a 101–93 loss to the
Portland Trail Blazers, who originally held that record by going 0–20 a week prior. • On January 8, 2013,
Steve Nash became the fifth player to reach 10,000
career assists. • On January 12, 2013, the
Phoenix Suns became the fourth fastest NBA team (tenth team overall) to gain 2,000 total victories in the regular season (with the only faster teams being the
Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers,
Boston Celtics, and
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers), with a 97–81 road victory against the
Chicago Bulls. • On January 16, 2013,
LeBron James became the youngest player to reach 20,000
career points, while also reaching 5,000 assists in the same game. • On January 27, 2013,
Dirk Nowitzki passed
Allen Iverson for 18th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list in a 110–95 victory over the
Phoenix Suns.
Shawn Marion also played his 1,000th game in the NBA against the team that first drafted him back in
1999, which was a pick that, ironically, was first owned by Dallas. • On January 30, 2013, the
Memphis Grizzlies participated in a three-way trade that sent their leading scorer
Rudy Gay and
Hamed Haddadi to the
Toronto Raptors, with Toronto trading
José Calderón to the
Detroit Pistons in exchange for Memphis gaining Toronto's
Ed Davis, Detroit's
Austin Daye, and Detroit's
Tayshaun Prince. • On February 18, 2013,
Los Angeles Lakers' owner
Jerry Buss died at age 80 at 5:55 a.m. after being hospitalized at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with an undisclosed form of cancer. His immediate cause of death was listed as
kidney failure. After the All-star break vs the Boston Celtics, the Lakers debut their uniforms with the Patch of the initials "JB" in honor of Buss. • On February 27, 2013,
Tim Duncan became the 15th player to reach 13,000
career rebounds in a 105–101 overtime loss to the
Phoenix Suns. The Suns would also end an 18-game home winning streak favoring the
San Antonio Spurs. • On February 27, 2013,
Stephen Curry scored 54 points but his Warriors lost to the Knicks, 109–105. He shot 18 for 28 from the field, making a Warriors franchise-record 11 three-pointers on 11 of 13 shooting from 3-point range. The 54 points Curry had was the third highest total by a Knicks opponent in the current
Madison Square Garden, trailing
Kobe Bryant's 61 points on February 2, 2009, and
Michael Jordan's 55 points on March 28, 1995. His 54 points were the most anyone recorded in the 2012–13 season. The 11 3-pointers were good for second most all-time in a game, 1 behind the record 12 made by Bryant (1/7/03) and
Donyell Marshall (3/13/05). • On February 28, 2013,
Vince Carter moved to 23rd on the
all-time scoring list. • In a March 12, 2013 game against his former team, the
Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Laker
Dwight Howard tied his own NBA record of 39 free throw attempts. He made 25 of the 39 attempts. He had previously set the league mark with 39 free throw attempts in a game while playing for the Orlando Magic vs. the Golden State Warriors on January 12, 2012. • On March 22, 2013,
Gregg Popovich became the second head coach in NBA history besides
Jerry Sloan to win 900 games with one team as the
San Antonio Spurs defeated the
Utah Jazz.
Tim Duncan would also surpass
Shaquille O'Neal to become the 13th all-time rebounding leader. • On March 27, 2013, the
Chicago Bulls ended
Miami Heat's 27–game winning streak which began on February 3 when the Heat defeated the
Toronto Raptors 100–85. The Bulls won the game 101–97. It was second longest in NBA history, only surpassed by the Lakers' 33-game winning streak in the
1971–72 season until the Golden State Warriors' 28-game winning streak in 2015. • On March 30, 2013,
Kobe Bryant moved to 4th on the all-time scoring list, passing
Wilt Chamberlain in a 103–98 victory against the
Sacramento Kings. • On April 6, 2013,
Rick Adelman became the eighth head coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games as a head coach. This came as the
Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the
Detroit Pistons 107–101. • On April 17, 2013, in the
Warriors' regular season finale against the
Portland Trail Blazers,
Stephen Curry broke the
NBA single-season record for most 3-pointers with his 270th of the season. The previous record was held by
Ray Allen who had 269 in 2005–2006 with the
Seattle SuperSonics. Curry added 2 more 3-pointers to finish the season with 272 in 600 attempts, 53 less than Allen attempted to set his record. Curry and teammate
Klay Thompson set the record for most 3-pointers by a duo with 483, 48 more than the previous record. • The
Dallas Mavericks are eliminated from making the playoffs for the first time since
2000, ending their 12-year streak. They lost to the
Phoenix Suns 102–91 and were eliminated a few hours later when the
Los Angeles Lakers won against the
Portland Trail Blazers 113–106. • The 2013
Boston Marathon bombing led to the cancellation of the game between the
Indiana Pacers and the
Boston Celtics, which was originally scheduled for April 16. As both teams' playoff positions were already set, the game was not rescheduled, instead they were forced to have a
bye. Both teams finished the season with only 81 regular season games, •
Dwight Howard led the league in defensive rebounds for the sixth consecutive season and sixth season overall in his career, both league records. He led the NBA in defensive rebounds every season starting with the season. • In the cover story of the May 6, 2013 issue of
Sports Illustrated, written by
Jason Collins himself and posted on the magazine's website on April 29, 2013, he
came out as gay, becoming the first active male athlete from one of the four
major American professional team sports to publicly do so. • This was the final season for the
New Orleans Hornets, who announced that they would change their name to the
Pelicans, effective in . In turn, the team then known as the
Charlotte Bobcats would reclaim the Pelicans' former name and records from the original team's tenure in the Queen City, but it would also keep its own records from its founding up to this point. ==See also==