•
LeBron James returned to the
Cleveland Cavaliers after four years with the
Miami Heat. He had controversially announced his departure from Cleveland in a
nationally televised special on July 8, 2010. • The Charlotte Bobcats were renamed the
Charlotte Hornets on May 20, 2014. The re-established Hornets retained the 10-year history of the Bobcats, as well as regained the original Charlotte Hornets records from the
1988–89 NBA season through the
2001–02 NBA season. The
New Orleans Pelicans retained the history and records that existed under the New Orleans Hornets name from the
2002–03 NBA season through the
2012–13 NBA season including the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets of the
2005–06 NBA season and
2006–07 NBA season. •
Lauren Holtkamp became the third female official in NBA history, joining
Violet Palmer and
Dee Kantner who both joined in the
1997–98 season. • The
Cleveland Cavaliers won the #1 pick in the NBA draft for the second year in a row, as well as the third time in four years and the sixth time in franchise history. It tied with the
Chicago Bulls in
2008 for the lowest percentage possible in the modern-day draft lottery, as well as marking the second time a team got the #1 draft pick two years in a row. Their selection was
Andrew Wiggins, the second straight Canadian player to be selected as the #1 pick. • The
Houston Rockets and the
Minnesota Timberwolves played at the
Mexico City Arena on November 12, while the
New York Knicks and the
Milwaukee Bucks played at
The O2 Arena in London on January 15. During the preseason the
Toronto Raptors and the
New York Knicks played at the
Bell Centre in
Montreal on October 24, and the
Toronto Raptors and the
Sacramento Kings played at the
Rogers Arena in
Vancouver on October 5. • The
Toronto Raptors and
Memphis Grizzlies celebrated their 20th anniversaries as franchises in the
NBA, although the latter was originally known as the
Vancouver Grizzlies. • Both top selections Andrew Wiggins and
Anthony Bennett were traded to the
Minnesota Timberwolves for
Kevin Love on August 23, the soonest date allowed, with Wiggins having signed a rookie contract 30 days earlier. The trade of Wiggins also marked the second time since the
NBA-ABA merger that a #1 draft pick was traded to another team without playing for his drafting team. • The
San Antonio Spurs made history by hiring
Becky Hammon as the first full-time female assistant coach in any of the
four major U.S. professional sports leagues. Hammon, a guard for the
WNBA's
San Antonio Stars, joined the Spurs coaching staff upon her retirement at the conclusion of the
2014 WNBA season. • In September,
Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson sold his share of the Hawks after self-reporting a 2012 e-mail he received that was considered inappropriate and racist. Around that same time, general manager
Danny Ferry's remark that player
Luol Deng "had a bit of African in him" was leaked, resulting in Ferry taking an indefinite leave of absence and having coach
Mike Budenholzer taking on the job until his potential return. • On September 29, the
Phoenix Suns became the first team to have two sets of brothers on the same team, with
Goran Dragić's younger brother
Zoran signing a two-year deal and both twin brothers
Markieff and
Marcus Morris getting four-year contract extensions. All four played in a loss to the
Los Angeles Clippers on November 15, and on January 2, 2015, they played together at the same time late in the fourth quarter in a 112–96 victory over the
Philadelphia 76ers. • On October 6, the NBA announced a new 9-year TV deal with
ESPN and
TNT worth $24 billion. Starting in the
2015–16 NBA season, the NBA's value increased from $930 million to $2.6 billion per year, which would also increase each team's salary cap from $63 million to around $89 million. In addition, the NBA also announced that it would host an end-of-season award show on TNT. • On October 19, the
Brooklyn Nets and the
Boston Celtics played a preseason game that consisted of four 11-minute quarters, instead of the regular 12-minute quarters; it decreased the overall amount of playing time to around two hours. Boston won the game 95–90. • The NBA logo assumed a new position on team jerseys, moving from the top left chest to the back atop a player's name. In addition, teams who have won a championship had their uniforms adorned with a gold patch on the back, featuring the number of championships won. • The NBA owners vote 17–13 to reform the lottery odds to reduce the chances of the worst teams in the league winning the lottery. However, the proposal failed as a 23-vote super-majority was required. • The NBA debuted a replay center in
Secaucus, New Jersey on October 28, 2014. • The league experimented with on-court
advertising. The
New York Knicks (
Chase),
Miami Heat and
Golden State Warriors (
Samsung Electronics), and
Philadelphia 76ers (
PartyPoker.com), removed their sponsor and replaced it with the website and/or
Twitter handle of the team. The
Indiana Pacers and the
Toronto Raptors retain marquee sponsorship with the
Indiana Economic Development Corporation and with
Bank of Montreal. Meanwhile, additional teams join in the experimentation: the
Houston Rockets court at the
Toyota Center was sponsored by
ZTE to promote smartphones; the
Orlando Magic court at
Amway Center was sponsored by
FanDuel; the
Brooklyn Nets court at
Barclays Center was sponsored by AirFastTickets, a ticketing company based in the United Kingdom; the
Charlotte Hornets court at the
Time Warner Cable Arena was sponsored by
Novant Health; and the
Utah Jazz court at the
EnergySolutions Arena was sponsored by United Fuel Supply, an oil company based in
Salt Lake City and established in 2011. The
Los Angeles Clippers court at the
Staples Center adopted
American Airlines as its sponsor. The
Washington Wizards joined in on the experimentation as well, with
GEICO (which is based in nearby
Chevy Chase, Maryland) as the team's marquee sponsor in the
Verizon Center. The
Minnesota Timberwolves court at the
Target Center added
USBank; the
Phoenix Suns court at the
U.S. Airways Center added Annexus, a retirement company; and the
New Orleans Pelicans court at the
Smoothie King Center added
Ochsner Health System. • On November 1, 2014,
Carmelo Anthony surpassed 20,000 career points, becoming the 40th player in NBA history to do so. He reached the milestone in the 1st quarter of a 96–93 home win against the
Charlotte Hornets. • On November 11,
Dirk Nowitzki surpassed
Hakeem Olajuwon as the highest-scoring player born outside the United States and the 9th all-time, as the Mavericks came from behind 24 points down to beat Sacramento 106–98 for their 21st straight regular-season win at home against the Kings. Nowitzki hit a jumper from just inside the three-point line early in the fourth quarter to pass Olajuwon, finishing the night at 26,953 career points. • On November 12,
Kobe Bryant surpassed
John Havlicek and became the all-time leader for missed field goal attempts in the league. His career-breaking record 13,418th missed shot came at 6:22 in the fourth quarter on a 14-foot fadeaway in a 107–102 loss on the road against the
Memphis Grizzlies. • On November 13, the
Dallas Mavericks led the
Philadelphia 76ers by 44 points, tying for the 2nd-largest margin at halftime. (Mavericks franchise record was broken by their own team on December 27, 2020, led the
Los Angeles Clippers by 50 points, 77–27 an NBA record still stands). • On December 2, the
Phoenix Suns announced that the
US Airways Center would be renamed the
Talking Stick Resort Arena. • On December 13,
Dwight Howard reached 10,000 career rebounds. At , Howard became the third youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 career rebounds. Only
Wilt Chamberlain (28 years, 81 days) and
Bill Russell (28 years, 285 days) reached the milestone at a younger age. • On December 14, 2014,
Kobe Bryant passed
Michael Jordan for third place on the all-time scoring list. He reached the mark at 5:24 in the second quarter against the
Minnesota Timberwolves by making two free-throw shots. Bryant finished with 26 points in the Lakers' 100–94 victory over Minnesota. • On December 18,
Rajon Rondo and rookie
Dwight Powell were traded to the
Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the
Boston Celtics receiving
Brandan Wright,
Jae Crowder,
Jameer Nelson, a 2015 first round draft pick, and a future second round draft pick. • On December 22, the Detroit Pistons waived
Josh Smith after signing him to a four-year, $54 million contract in July 2013. He signed with the
Houston Rockets two days later, after the Rockets waived undrafted rookie
Tarik Black, who signed with the
Los Angeles Lakers a few days later. In Smith's debut with the Rockets, he recorded 21 points and 8 rebounds in 32 minutes in a 117–111 overtime victory over the
Memphis Grizzlies on December 26. After the waivers were cleared, the Pistons went on a seven-game winning streak after starting out 5–23 with Smith on the roster. • On Christmas Day, jerseys listed players' first names instead of the traditional last names. The
Miami Heat defeated the
Cleveland Cavaliers 101–91 on Christmas Day, spoiling
LeBron James's return to Miami. • On December 26,
Dirk Nowitzki passed
Elvin Hayes to become the 8th best all-time scorer. He scored 14 points in the Mavericks' 102–98 victory over the
Los Angeles Lakers. Also that day,
Jared Dudley became the first player to shoot perfectly from the field while attempting at least 10 field goals and 3 three-pointers, as he scored 24 points on 10-for-10 shooting, (4 for 4 on three-pointers) in the
Milwaukee Bucks' 107–77 win over the
Atlanta Hawks. • On January 2, 2015, an agreement was put in place by the
Atlanta Hawks ownership to sell the franchise. • On January 5,
Dirk Nowitzki passed
Moses Malone to become the 7th best all-time scorer. He scored 15 points in the Mavericks' 96–88 overtime victory over the
Brooklyn Nets. • The
Atlanta Hawks became the sole leaders of the
Eastern Conference in January for the first time since the
1993–94 NBA season. • On January 15, the
Los Angeles Clippers acquired
Austin Rivers, the son of Clippers head coach
Doc Rivers, in a three-way trade with the
Boston Celtics and
Phoenix Suns. Rivers is the first son to play for his father in NBA history. • On January 23,
Klay Thompson scored an NBA-record 37 points in a quarter, when he was a perfect 13-for-13 from the field and 9-for-9 from three-point range in the third quarter of a 126–101 win over the
Sacramento Kings. He broke the previous record of 33 held by
George Gervin and
Carmelo Anthony. The 9 three-pointers were also a league record for a quarter, surpassing the mark of 8 by
Michael Redd and
Joe Johnson. The 13 field goals tied
David Thompson's record for a quarter. • On January 31, 2015, the
Atlanta Hawks became the first team to go 17–0 in a month after defeating the
Philadelphia 76ers. • For the month of January 2015, the entire
Atlanta Hawks starting lineup (
Jeff Teague,
Kyle Korver,
DeMarre Carroll,
Paul Millsap, and
Al Horford) tied for Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors. This marked the first time five players tied for the award, and the second time that multiple players from the same team tied for the award. All except Carroll would go on to become Eastern Conference All-Stars. • During the All-Star game,
Russell Westbrook would record the second-highest number of points with 41 as the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 163–158. After the game, it was announced that the
New York Knicks had bought out
Amar'e Stoudemire's contract and he could play wherever he wanted to. He'd end up going to the
Dallas Mavericks two days later. • By the February 19 trade deadline, a record 43 different players ended up being traded. Trading highlights included
Kevin Garnett returning to the
Minnesota Timberwolves;
Tayshaun Prince returning to the
Detroit Pistons; the
Phoenix Suns trading with five different teams and trading both star point guards---
Isaiah Thomas to the
Boston Celtics and
Goran Dragić to the
Miami Heat---while getting
Brandon Knight from the
Milwaukee Bucks; and the
Oklahoma City Thunder getting
Enes Kanter and
Steve Novak from the
Utah Jazz and
D. J. Augustin and
Kyle Singler from the
Detroit Pistons in exchange for
Kendrick Perkins,
Grant Jerrett, and
Reggie Jackson. • On March 24, Dirk Nowitzki recorded his 10,000th rebound in a 101–94 victory over the
San Antonio Spurs. He became the first player to record 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,000 blocks, and 1,000 three-pointers, as well as the seventh player reach 10,000 rebounds. • On March 24, 2015,
Jeremy Lin and
Jordan Clarkson of the Los Angeles Lakers made up the first starting Asian-American backcourt in NBA history in a 127–117 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Clarkson is Filipino-American on his father's side and Filipino on his mother's; Lin's heritage is Chinese/Taiwanese. Clarkson had a career high 30 points and three blocks, along seven assists and four rebounds. He became the youngest Laker to score 30 points since Andrew Bynum on January 21, 2009. Jeremy Lin contributed with 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds. • On April 8,
Derrick Rose became the first player to return from a torn meniscus injury in a time-span less than 6 months. He was out for approximately 6 weeks. • All five teams in the
Southwest Division made the 2015 playoffs, marking only the fourth time all teams in a division had made the playoffs, and the first time since the entire
Central Division made it in the
2005–06 NBA season. It was the first occurrence of all teams in a division making the playoffs with all teams having a winning record. • On April 11, in a game between the
New York Knicks and the
Orlando Magic, the teams scored 15 combined points in the second quarter, setting an NBA record for the fewest points in a quarter. • The
New York Knicks and
Los Angeles Lakers suffered their first 60-loss seasons in franchise history. The Knicks finished 17–65, surpassing 23–59 in 1986 and 2006. The Lakers finished 21–61, surpassing their worst record of 27–55 from the previous season. It leaves the
Utah Jazz as the only franchise without a 60-loss season (not until
2024-25 NBA season as they suffered their first 60-loss season in a loss to
Charlotte Hornets). • The
Miami Heat and the
Indiana Pacers both missed the playoffs, marking the first time since
2004–05 that two teams who reached the conference finals the previous post-season, failed to make the playoffs. • The
Golden State Warriors and
Atlanta Hawks both achieved their first 60-win seasons in franchise history, finishing 67–15 and 60–22 and first place in their conference. Also, both teams advanced to the conference finals for the first time since
1976 and
1970, respectively. •
Russell Westbrook became the first
scoring leader since
Tracy McGrady in
2003–04 whose team (in this case, the
Oklahoma City Thunder) did not make the playoffs. • On April 30, the
Chicago Bulls eliminated the
Milwaukee Bucks 120–66 in Game 6 of the playoffs. The 54-point blowout is the largest margin of victory in a series-clinching game in NBA postseason history. • The
San Antonio Spurs became the first defending champions to be eliminated in the first round since the 2012
Dallas Mavericks, and the second time since 2000. • The
Houston Rockets became the ninth team in NBA history to win a playoff series in which they faced a 3–1 deficit—in the Western Conference Semifinals against the
Los Angeles Clippers. • On May 23,
Stephen Curry set a new NBA record for the most 3-point FG made in a single playoffs, with 59, previously held by
Reggie Miller with 58 in
2000. Curry would eventually finish the postseason with a total of 98 3-point FG made, 39 more than the previous record. • Both conference final teams from the East and West, notably the
Cleveland Cavaliers and the
Golden State Warriors respectively, hold commanding 3–0 series leads, a first in NBA playoff history. • On May 25, the
Golden State Warriors made 20 3-pointers (tied playoff record) and
Houston Rockets had 17 to set an NBA record for most 3-pointers combined in a playoff game (37). • The
Atlanta Hawks became the fourth #1 seed to be swept in the playoffs. • For the first time since the
inaugural season of the NBA (1947, formerly called the Basketball Association of America), two rookie head coaches, in this case
David Blatt of the
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Steve Kerr of the
Golden State Warriors, meet head-to-head in the finals. • For the first time in NBA Finals history, Games 1 and 2 went into overtime, with the
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Golden State Warriors splitting victories. ==Notes==