1996–97 Philadelphia 76ers season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the 48th season for the Philadelphia 76ers in the National Basketball Association, and their 34th season in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This season is most memorable when the 76ers won the NBA draft lottery, and selected point guard Allen Iverson out of Georgetown University with the first overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. After two seasons at Georgetown, Iverson quickly established himself as one of the premier point guards in the NBA. During the off-season, the 76ers signed free agents Don MacLean, Mark Davis, Lucious Harris, and Michael Cage.

Under new head coach Johnny Davis, the 76ers played around .500 basketball in November with a 7–8 start to the regular season. However, they struggled and lost 23 of their next 24 games, including 10 and 13-game losing streaks posted respectively, and held a 12–34 record at the All-Star break. The 76ers lost ten of their final eleven games of the season, and finished in sixth place in the Atlantic Division with a 22–60 record.

Iverson had a successful rookie season, scoring 30 points in his NBA debut in the 76ers' 111–103 home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on November 1, 1996, and finishing the regular season averaging 23.5 points, 7.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and also leading the team with 155 three-point field goals; he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, while also winning the Most Valuable Player award in the NBA Rookie Game during the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. Iverson also set a rookie record of scoring 40 or more points in five consecutive games in April, plus scoring a season-high of 50 points in a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 12, 1997, despite the 76ers losing all five of those games.

In addition, second-year star Jerry Stackhouse finished second on the team in scoring with 20.7 points per game, and 102 three-point field goals, while Derrick Coleman averaged 18.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, but only played 57 games due to a finger injury, and Clarence Weatherspoon provided the team with 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Off the bench, MacLean contributed 10.9 points per game, but only played just 37 games due to a hip injury, while Davis provided with 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and starting center Scott Williams averaged 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Iverson also finished tied in seventeenth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and Davis finished tied in seventh place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

The 76ers also moved into the new 20,000 plus seat CoreStates Center (now the Wells Fargo Center), after calling The Spectrum home from 1967 to 1996. Davis and General Manager Brad Greenberg were both fired after Iverson's first season with the club. Following the season, MacLean, Harris and Cage were all traded to the New Jersey Nets.