February 9, 1997: The NBA hosts its All-Star Game at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. The East beat the West, 132-120. Glen Rice, then with the Charlotte Hornets, was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
But the game was secondary to the halftime entertainment. Although the names had already been announced a few weeks earlier, to coincide with the NBA's actual 50th Anniversary -- the 1st game was played on November 1, 1946 -- the 50 Greatest Players, as chosen by a special panel (including, as it turned out, some of the players in question) were introduced.
Of the 50, 49 were still alive at the time. The only one who had died was Pete Maravich, who suffered a heart attack in 1988, only 40 years old. He was represented at the ceremony by his sons, Jaeson and Josh.
Of the 49 living players, 47 were on hand. The two who weren't? One had a good excuse: Jerry West, the legendary guard and executive of the Los Angeles Lakers, was in a hospital, recovering from surgery. (He did recover, and was still alive to be selected to the 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.)
The other player who didn't show up did not have a good excuse. It was Shaquille O'Neal. He'd played 4 seasons, thrilling fans with ferocious dunks, and leading the Orlando Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals. This was his 1st season with the Lakers, and there were people who said his worthiness as a selection as an all-time great was premature. (That turned out to be true.)
But it wasn't humility, a belief that he didn't yet belong, that kept him away. No, it was an injury. He decided that, if he couldn't play in the game, he wouldn't show up. So he didn't. And so, when his name was announced, the crowd in Cleveland -- a city which had absolutely no reason to dislike him, or the Lakers, or even the Magic -- booed him hard.
Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets was selected, for both the All-Star Game and the 50 Greatest Players. So was Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks. Like Shaq, both of these men were injured, and unable to play in the game. But both of them showed up, anyway, wearing suits instead of their uniforms. And each of them was solidly cheered by a crowd in a city for which he had never played.
The members of the 50 Greatest Players who were still active, and selected for the games, wore their East or West uniforms. All the others wore suits. All of them were given special leather jackets, with the NBA 50th Anniversary logo, white sleeves, and torsos in the solid color of the team with which they were the most identified.
Only 4 of the NBA's 1st 50 Championship teams were not represented: The 1947 Philadelphia Warriors, the 1948 Baltimore Bullets, the 1951 Rochester Royals, and the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics, although their head coach, Lenny Wilkens, was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players.
Here they were, in (roughly) chronological order:
* From the Minneapolis Lakers' dynasty of the 1950s: George Mikan.
* From the Syracuse Nationals' 1955 NBA Champions: Dolph Schayes.
* From the Philadelphia Warriors' 1956 NBA Champions: Paul Arizin.
* From the St. Louis Hawks' 1958 NBA Champions: Bob Pettit.
* From the Boston Celtics' dynasty of the 1950s and '60s: Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, John Havlicek.
* From the Philadelphia 76ers' 1967 NBA Champions: Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham.
* From the New York Knicks' 1970 NBA Champions: Willis Reed, Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Dave DeBusschere. From their 1973 Champions: Those 3, plus Jerry Lucas and Earl "the Pearl" Monroe. But not, interestingly, Bill Bradley.
* From the Milwaukee Bucks' 1971 NBA Champions: Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
* From the Los Angeles Lakers' 1972 NBA Champions: Chamberlain and Jerry West.
* From the Celtics' Champions of 1974 and '76: Havlicek and Dave Cowens.
* From the Golden State Warriors' 1975 NBA Champions: Rick Barry.
* From the Portland Trail Blazers' 1977 NBA Champions: Bill Walton.
* From the Washington Bullets' 1978 NBA Champions: Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes.
* From the Lakers' dynasty of the 1980s: Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin "Magic" Johnson and James Worthy.
* From the Celtics' dynasty of the 1980s: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Nate "Tiny" Archibald was selected, and played on their 1981 title team. Walton was selected, and played on their 1986 title team.
* From the 76ers' 1983 NBA Champions: Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Moses Malone.
* From the Detroit Pistons' back-to-back titlists of 1989 and '90: Isiah Thomas.
* From the Chicago Bulls' dynasty of the 1990s: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
* From the Houston Rockets' 1994 NBA Champions: Hakeem Olajuwon. From their 1995 Champions: Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
* From a sort-of dynasty yet to begin, that of the San Antonio Spurs of 1999-2007: David Robinson. Tim Duncan was still in college at this point.
* From a dynasty yet to begin, that of the Lakers in the early 2000s: Shaquille O'Neal. Kobe Bryant was a rookie, but was selected for the All-Star Game, and led all scorers with 31 points.
* Selected, but never won a title, though they did reach the NBA Finals at least once: Elgin Baylor, 1959 Minneapolis Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers of 1962, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69 and '70; Lenny Wilkens, 1961 St. Louis Hawks; Nate Thurmond, 1964 and '67 San Francisco Warriors; Charles Barkley, 1993 Phoenix Suns; Patrick Ewing, 1994 and '99 Knicks; and Karl Malone and John Stockton, both 1997 and '98 Utah Jazz.
* Selected, but never even made the NBA Finals: Dave Bing, 1970s Pistons; Pete Maravich, 1970s Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Jazz; and George Gervin, 1970s and '80s Spurs.
Every one of these players has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, including those who were still active at the time. Shaq was the last one still active, in 2011.
And every one of these players was also re-selected in 2021 for the 75 Greatest Players. No one was demoted. One player already retired in 1997 who was not selected for the 50, but was promoted to the 75, was Bob McAdoo, who played on the Lakers' 1982 and '85 Champions. And Dominique Wilkens, still playing in 1997 (with the Spurs) but close to the end of the line, whatever legacy he had already secure (and, as a 1980s Atlanta Hawk, his dunking got him nicknamed "The Human Highlight Reel"), was not selected for the 50, but was selected for the 75.
One final note: In the locker room, waiting for the ceremony to begin, Michael Jordan was holding court, smoking a cigar, and telling anyone who would listen that he was the greatest basketball player of all time.
Wilt Chamberlain heard this. He'd been hearing for a few years that Jordan was the greatest, and not just from Jordan himself. He decided to put an end to this. He walked over, towering over the seated Jordan, and said, "Michael, my man, when you played, they changed the rules to make it easier for you. When I played, they changed the rules to make it harder for me. And it didn't work."
And he walked off. Dead silence in the room. Talk about "dropping the Mike."
It didn't put an end to it: There are still people who consider Jordan the greatest ever. LeBron James was then 12 years old, and now, some people think he was greater than either of them. But neither Jordan nor LeBron can ever touch Wilt.
UPDATE: Added for the 75th Anniversary, in addition to McAdoo and Wilkins, were: Dennis Rodman, who won the titled with the 1989 and '90 Pistons, and the 1996, '97 and '98 Bulls; Tim Duncan, 1999, 2003, '05, '07 and '14 Spurs; Kobe Bryant, 2000, '01, '02, '09 and '10 Lakers; Gary Payton and Dwyane Wade, 2006 Miami Heat; Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, 2008 Celtics; Ray Allen, 2008 Celtics and 2012 and '13 Heat; Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, 2011 Dallas Mavericks; LeBron James, 2012 and '13 Heat, 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, 2020 Lakers; Kawhi Leonard, 2014 Spurs and 2019 Toronto Raptors; Steph Curry, 2015, '17, '18 and '22 Warriors; Kevin Durant, 2017 and '18 Warriors; Anthony Davis, 2020 Lakers; Giannis Antetokounmpo, 2021 Bucks; Reggie Miller, who reached the Finals on the 2000 Indiana Pacers; Allen Iverson, who reached the Finals on the 2001 76ers; Russell Westbrook and James Harden, who reached the Finals with Durant on the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder; Chris Paul, who reached the Finals on the 2021 Suns; and never-finalists Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and, so far, Damian Lillard.
*
February 9, 1997 was a Sunday. There were no other NBA games played that day. Baseball and football were out of season. But there were 5 NHL games played:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Florida Panthers, 4-3 at the Miami Arena.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Neal Broten scored the winning goal with 44 seconds left in overtime.
* The Calgary Flames beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 6-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at the Edmonton Coliseum (as the Northlands Coliseum was known at the time).
And football star Saquon Barkley was born on this day.
