1996–97 Portland Trail Blazers season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the 27th season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. The Trail Blazers had the seventeenth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and selected power forward, and high school basketball star Jermaine O'Neal. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Kenny Anderson, acquired Isaiah Rider from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and acquired second-year forward Rasheed Wallace and Mitchell Butler from the Washington Bullets.

The Trail Blazers played around .500 basketball for most of the first half of the regular season, holding a 25–23 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team traded Aaron McKie to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Stacey Augmon. The Trail Blazers then posted a 13–2 record in March, which included an 11-game winning streak, then won their final four games of the season, finishing in third place in the Pacific Division with a 49–33 record, and earning the #5 seed in the Western Conference; the team made their 15th consecutive trip to the NBA playoffs, and 20th in 21 years.

Anderson averaged 17.5 points, 7.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and led the Trail Blazers with 132 three-point field goals, while Rider finished second on the team in scoring with 16.1 points per game, and Clifford Robinson contributed 15.1 points per game and 121 three-point field goals. In addition, Wallace averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, but only played 62 games due to a broken thumb, and also finished in third place in Most Improved Player voting, while second-year center Arvydas Sabonis provided the team with 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Off the bench, second-year forward Gary Trent provided with 10.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and Chris Dudley contributed 3.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. The Trail Blazers had the seventh best team defensive rating in the NBA.

The Trail Blazers faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, and were defeated 3–1, marking the fifth consecutive year they were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Following the season, head coach P. J. Carlesimo was fired after three seasons with the Trail Blazers, while Robinson signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Suns after eight seasons in Portland, Dudley was traded to the New York Knicks in a three-team trade, and Butler signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.