1996–97 Chicago Bulls season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the 31st season for the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association. The Bulls entered the regular season as defending NBA champions, having defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals in six games, winning their fourth NBA championship. During the off-season, the Bulls signed 43-year old free agent All-Star center Robert Parish, who won three championships with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s.

Coming off of one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, the Bulls, on the backs of recording another first-place finish in their division and conference, repeated as NBA champions. The Bulls were led by Michael Jordan, perennial All-Star small forward Scottie Pippen, and rebound ace Dennis Rodman; other notable players on the club's roster that year were clutch-specialist Croatian Toni Kukoč, and sharp-shooting point guard Steve Kerr.

The Bulls got off to a fast start by winning their first twelve games of the regular season, while posting a 42–6 record before the All-Star break. In April, the team signed free agent Brian Williams, who previously played for the Los Angeles Clippers last season, and spent most of the 1996–97 season as a free agent; Williams played in the final nine games of the regular season as a backup center for the Bulls. Though, the Bulls look to make history against the New York Knicks in their final regular season game of the year, Pippen missed a game-winning three-pointer and they finished in first place in the Central Division with a 69–13 record, just missing out on becoming the first team in NBA history to have back-to-back 70 wins seasons. The Bulls earned the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, qualified for the NBA playoffs for the 13th consecutive year, and had the fourth best team defensive rating in the NBA.

Jordan led the league in scoring once again, averaging 29.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game, plus contributing 111 three-point field goals, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, while Pippen averaged 20.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game, led the Bulls with 156 three-point field goals, and was selected to the All-NBA Second Team; both Jordan and Pippen were named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Rodman led the league with 16.1 rebounds per game, but only played 55 games due to suspensions and injuries, such as serving an 11-game suspension for kicking a cameraman during a road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 15, 1997, and a knee injury which caused him to miss the final 13 games of the regular season.

Meanwhile, Kukoč provided scoring off the bench, averaging 13.2 points per game, but only played 57 games due to a foot injury, while Luc Longley provided the team with 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, Kerr contributed 8.1 points per game and 110 three-point field goals off the bench, while shooting .464 in three-point field goal percentage, second-year forward Jason Caffey averaged 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, starting at power forward in a few games during Rodman's suspension, and Ron Harper contributed 6.3 points and 2.5 assists per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, Jordan and Pippen were both selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, which would be Pippen's seventh and final All-Star appearance, and in which Jordan recorded the first triple-double in an All-Star Game with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists; Kerr also won the NBA Three-Point Shootout. Jordan also finished in second place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Pippen finished in eleventh place; Pippen finished in fourth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, while Jordan finished in fifth place, and Kukoč finished in second place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

In the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Bulls would sweep the Washington Bullets in three straight games in the Eastern Conference First Round. In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, they defeated the Atlanta Hawks in five games, despite losing Game 2 at the United Center, 103–95. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they defeated the Miami Heat in five games to advance to the 1997 NBA Finals, where they defeated regular season MVP Karl Malone, John Stockton and the Utah Jazz in six games for their fifth NBA title in seven years.

Following the season, Parish retired after 21 seasons in the NBA, while Williams signed as a free agent with the Detroit Pistons, and Dickey Simpkins was traded to the Golden State Warriors.