Our greatest memories of the 1995-96 NBA season, as NBC brings ’90s vibe to Coast 2 Coast Tuesday

The 1995-96 NBA season was legendary — and NBC was right in the middle of it.

Tuesday night, NBC is bringing back that vibe when legendary sports broadcasters Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Mike “Czar of the Telestrator” Fratello, Jim Gray, Hannah Storm, Isiah Thomas and P.J. Carlesimo return to NBC Sports in a special edition “throwback” Coast 2 Coast Tuesday broadcast. That crew will be on hand when Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visit Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers. Costas, Collins and Fratello will call the game alongside courtside reporter Gray, and the NBA Showtime that precedes the game will feature Storm as studio host and Thomas and Carlesimo as studio analysts.

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What do we remember from that 1995-96 season? So very much, it was the peak of that NBA era.

72-win Chicago Bulls

The greatest team of all time.

No team in NBA history has won so many games (72-10) and capped it by winning an NBA championship. Nobody. (The 2015-16 Warriors won 73 games but blew a 3-1 Finals lead to LeBron James’s Cavaliers.)

That Bulls team featured MVP Michael Jordan, who averaged 30.4 points per game capping off his comeback, as well as Scottie Pippen (fifth in MVP voting and second in Defensive Player of the. Year voting that season), Dennis Rodman (14.9 rebounds per game and elite defense), Tony Kukoc winning Sixth Man of the Year, plus a veteran and impressive group of role players, which included a young sharpshooter out of Southern California by way of Arizona, Steve Kerr.

Jordan’s emotional title

Chicago won the 1996 NBA championship on Father’s Day, and this was Jordan’s first championship after his father’s death, which led to an iconic, tearful celebration on the locker room floor.

Magic Johnson’s Return

Magic Johnson abruptly and shockingly retired from basketball in 1991 after contracting AIDS.

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Four years later, for the 1995-96 season, Magic returned midseason and played 32 games for the Lakers, still averaging 14.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game, mostly coming off the bench.

Peak Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton in Seattle

Back in 1995-96, Seattle still had an NBA team…

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Publish date : 2026-03-03 15:50:00

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