The NBA adopts the three-official system used in college basketball permanently. The league experimented with three officials per game in 1978–79, but went back to two officials per game for the next nine seasons, although they actually have three with the inclusion of an alternate referee for all playoff games and selected regular season games.
The Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets become the league's 24th and 25th franchises.
Michael Jordan records ten triple-doubles in eleven games near the end of the season.
Prior to the season, the first-year Hornets announce that they choose teal as their primary color, which gave them immediate attention. In the next decade, expansion teams in the other professional sports leagues further popularized the use of the color. The Hornets also popularized the use of pinstripes on the uniforms, which were later adopted by the Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers and the current Charlotte Hornets' predecessor franchise, the Bobcats.
The Chicago Bulls started a playoff tradition by wearing black sneakers. Prior to that, the Boston Celtics were the only team to wear black sneakers. Following the Bulls' unlikely playoff run, other teams began adopting the style, beginning with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1990.
This was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last season.
The Los Angeles Lakers became the first team to sweep two consecutive best-of-seven series.
The Celtics, who had never won fewer than 57 games in any of the previous nine seasons, slump to 42 as Larry Bird played only six games due to injuries.
The Indiana Pacers had four different head coaches during the season, a rare occurrence that has not happened since.
Seattle SuperSonics guard Dale Ellis won the All-Star game's 3-point shootout.
The first postponement of an NBA game due to a civil disturbance. In the wake of the Miami riots, the game between the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns on January 17, 1989, was postponed.
Head coach Jerry Sloan begins the first season of 23 for the Utah Jazz, the longest tenure of any professional coach for one city and franchise.
Ricky Berry was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the first round, 18th pick overall in the 1988 NBA draft. He had a dazzling rookie year in the 1988–89 season shooting 40.6% from three-point range. It would be his last season due to his death in the offseason.
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
x – Clinched playoff spot
Expansion
The League expands from twenty-three to twenty-five franchises, with new expansion teams in Charlotte and Miami. The Heat began its season as a member of the Western Conference despite its geographical position, enduring its longest road trips when playing Western Conference teams. It also began the season 0–17, at the time the worst start in NBA history. The Hornets finished at 20–62. Such records are typical of expansion NBA franchises in their initial seasons, with 15–67 being the poorest record repeated by the Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Mavericks, as well as the Heat. The Sacramento Kings were belatedly moved to the Pacific Division in their fourth season after leaving Kansas City.
Playoffs
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.
Statistics leaders
NBA awards
Most Valuable Player:Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
