The 1997-98 NBA season was the 52nd season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls winning their third straight championship and sixth in the last eight years, beating the Utah Jazz 4 games to 2 in the 1998 NBA Finals. This would also be in many people's eyes the end of the golden era of basketball with the departure of Michael Jordan and the end of the dynasty for the Chicago Bulls.
The "Washington Bullets" are renamed as the "Washington Wizards". They begin the season at US Airways Arena, then in December, they play their first game at the MCI Center (now Verizon Center) during this season.
The Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls shared the league's best record with 62-20. Fittingly, they met each other in the NBA Finals.
Two new records are set in Game 3 of the NBA Finals: biggest margin of victory (42 points) and fewest points scored in an NBA Finals game (54) in the Chicago Bulls' rout of the Utah Jazz.
Following head coach Phil Jackson's decision to not return to the Bulls, Michael Jordan announces his second retirement from the NBA during the following offseason. This was Jordan's final season with the Chicago Bulls.
