1996–97 Charlotte Hornets season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the ninth season for the Charlotte Hornets in the National Basketball Association. For the first time since the 1990–91 season, Larry Johnson was not on the team's opening day roster. The Hornets received the thirteenth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard, and high school basketball star Kobe Bryant, but soon traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vlade Divac, acquired Anthony Mason from the New York Knicks, and signed free agent Tony Smith during the off-season. The team also hired former Boston Celtics star Dave Cowens as their new head coach.

Under Cowens, and with the addition of Divac and Mason, the new-look Hornets played better than expected. After struggling with an 8–9 start to the regular season, the Hornets won 21 of their next 31 games, holding a 29–19 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team signed free agent and former All-Star forward Tom Chambers in January, then traded Scott Burrell to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Donald Royal, and dealt second-year guard Anthony Goldwire, and second-year center George Zidek to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Ricky Pierce in February. However, Chambers was released to free agency after 12 games. The Hornets posted a nine-game winning streak in April, and finished in fourth place in the Central Division with a franchise best 54–28 record, earning the #6 seed in the Eastern Conference, and making it back to the NBA playoffs after a one-year absence.

Glen Rice had the best season of his career, finishing third in the league in scoring with a career-high of 26.8 points per game, while leading the Hornets with 207 three-point field goals, and shooting .470 in three-point percentage, and also earning All-NBA Second Team honors. In addition, Mason averaged 16.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game, and earned All-NBA Third Team and NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors, while Divac and Matt Geiger both provided the best center combo in the league, as Divac averaged 12.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game, and Geiger provided the team with 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, but only played just 49 games due to a back injury. Meanwhile, sixth man Dell Curry contributed 14.8 points per game and 126 three-point field goals off the bench, Muggsy Bogues provided with 8.0 points, 7.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game, and Smith contributed 5.0 points per game.

Rice was also selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio, where he set several scoring records, and was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. Rice finished in fifth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Mason finished tied in ninth place; Rice also finished tied in fifth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Curry finished tied in fifth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and Cowens finished in second place in Coach of the Year voting.

However, in the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Hornets were swept by the New York Knicks in three straight games. The Hornets led the NBA in home-game attendance for the eighth, and final time during their history in Charlotte, with an attendance of 985,722 at the Charlotte Coliseum during the regular season; they also had the best three-point percentage in NBA history, shooting 42.8% from beyond the arch.

Following the season, Pierce re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks during the next season, and Smith and Royal were both released to free agency.