1998–99 Detroit Pistons season

The 1998–99 NBA season was the 51st season for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association, and their 42nd season in Detroit, Michigan. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50.

The Pistons received the eleventh overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Bonzi Wells out of Ball State University, but later on traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. During the off-season, the team acquired Christian Laettner from the Atlanta Hawks, and signed free agents Loy Vaught, and Jud Buechler. Laettner would reunite with former Duke University teammate Grant Hill, but only played just 16 games due to an Achilles injury and a broken rib. After a solid year the previous season, Brian Williams changed his named to Bison Dele to honor his Cherokee heritage.

The Pistons won their first three games of the regular season, but then lost five straight. However, they would play above .500 basketball for the remainder of the season, and bounce back from their disappointing season, finishing in third place in the Central Division with a 29–21 record, earning the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference, and returning to the NBA playoffs after a one-year absence.

Hill averaged 21.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game, was named to the All-NBA Second Team, and finished in eighth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while sixth man Jerry Stackhouse continued to provide scoring off the bench averaging 14.5 points per game. In addition, Lindsey Hunter provided the team with 11.9 points and 1.8 steals per game, while Joe Dumars contributed 11.3 points per game, and Dele averaged 10.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Off the bench, Laettner averaged 7.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while Jerome Williams provided the team with 7.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, and starting power forward Don Reid contributed 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

However, in the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1999 NBA playoffs, the Pistons would lose to the Atlanta Hawks in five games. This season also marked an end of an era, as Dumars retired after a solid fourteen-year career in the NBA with the Pistons, and would become the team's vice president next season. This was also Dele's final season of his career as he retired before the following season, turning down a $36 million contract.