The 1992–93 Washington Bullets season was the 32nd season for the Washington Bullets in the National Basketball Association, and their 20th season in Washington, D.C..

Season summary

Off-season The Bullets received the sixth overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft, and selected power forward Tom Gugliotta out of North Carolina State University. During the off-season, the team acquired rookie power forward, and first-round draft pick Don MacLean out of the University of California, Los Angeles from the Los Angeles Clippers, who had acquired him from the Detroit Pistons, and signed free agents Buck Johnson, and rookie point guard Doug Overton. However, Ledell Eackles would miss the entire season due to weight problems.

Regular season With the addition of Gugliotta, the Bullets got off to a 7–10 start to the regular season, but then struggled posting a nine-game losing streak in December, and later on held a 15–36 record at the All-Star break. In January, All-Star forward Bernard King was released to free agency, and later on signed as a free agent with the New Jersey Nets. The team struggled with injuries as Pervis Ellison only played just 49 games due to a knee injury, Rex Chapman only played 60 games due to an ankle injury, and Overton only played just 45 games due to a thumb injury. The Bullets lost ten of their final eleven games of the season, and finished in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 22–60 record; the team missed the NBA playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.

Harvey Grant averaged 18.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while Ellison averaged 17.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, and Michael Adams provided the team with 14.8 points, 7.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game. In addition, Gugliotta provided with 14.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, while Chapman contributed 12.5 points per game, and second-year forward Larry Stewart averaged 9.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, second-year guard LaBradford Smith contributed 9.3 points per game, Overton contributed 8.1 points and 3.5 assists per game, Johnson provided with 6.5 points per game, and defensive center Charles Jones averaged 1.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

The Bullets finished 20th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 558,966 at the Capital Centre during the regular season.

Notable highlights One notable highlight of the regular season occurred on March 19, 1993, in a road game against the 2-time defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls at the Chicago Stadium. Smith scored a career-high of 37 points against All-Star guard Michael Jordan, and made 15 out of 20 field-goal attempts, while Jordan struggled shooting just 9–27 from the field. However, the Bullets lost to the Bulls, 104–99.

Aftermath Following the season, Grant was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers after five seasons with the Bullets, and Johnson, Eackles and Jones were all released to free agency.

NBA draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 6 Tom Gugliotta PF North Carolina State 2 32 Brent Price PG Oklahoma

Roster

Roster Notes Shooting guard Ledell Eackles was on the injured reserve list due to weight problems, and missed the entire regular season.

Regular season

Season standings

y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot

z - clinched division title y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

Player statistics

Regular season

| style="text-align:left;"|† | 12 || 7 || 20.5 || .600 || || .714 || 5.1 || .4 || .3 || .5 || 4.8

| style="text-align:left;"| | 70 || 70 || 35.7 || .439 || .321 || .856 || 3.4 || 7.5 || 1.4 || .1 || 14.8

| style="text-align:left;"| | 4 || 0 || 8.8 || .385 || .333 || .800 || .8 || 1.5 || .5 || .0 || 7.3

| style="text-align:left;"| | 60 || 23 || 21.7 || .477 || .371 || .810 || 1.5 || 1.9 || .6 || .2 || 12.5

| style="text-align:left;"|† | 1 || 0 || 3.0 || 1.000 || || || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || 2.0

| style="text-align:left;"| | 49 || 48 || 34.7 || .521 || .000 || .702 || 8.8 || 2.4 || .9 || 2.2 || 17.4

| style="text-align:left;"|† | 10 || 0 || 9.3 || .440 || || .667 || 2.7 || 1.1 || .0 || .5 || 2.4

| style="text-align:left;"| | 72 || 72 || 37.0 || .487 || .100 || .727 || 5.7 || 2.8 || 1.0 || .6 || 18.6

| style="text-align:left;"| | 81 || 81 || 34.5 || .426 || .281 || .644 || 9.6 || 3.8 || 1.7 || .4 || 14.7

| style="text-align:left;"| | 4 || 2 || 11.3 || .500 || 1.000 || .500 || 1.0 || .5 || .3 || .0 || 5.5

| style="text-align:left;"| | 73 || 19 || 17.6 || .479 || .000 || .730 || 2.7 || 1.2 || .5 || .2 || 6.5

| style="text-align:left;"| | 67 || 21 || 18.0 || .524 || .000 || .579 || 4.1 || .6 || .6 || 1.1 || 1.3

| style="text-align:left;"| | 62 || 4 || 10.9 || .435 || .500 || .811 || 2.0 || .6 || .2 || .1 || 6.6

| style="text-align:left;"|† | 3 || 0 || 1.0 || .500 || || .500 || 1.3 || .0 || .0 || .0 || 1.7

| style="text-align:left;"| | 45 || 13 || 22.0 || .471 || .231 || .728 || 2.4 || 3.5 || .7 || .1 || 8.1

| style="text-align:left;"| | 68 || 9 || 12.6 || .358 || .167 || .794 || 1.5 || 2.3 || .8 || .0 || 3.9

| style="text-align:left;"| | 4 || 0 || 8.3 || .375 || .000 || .600 || .8 || .8 || .3 || .3 || 3.8

| style="text-align:left;"| | 69 || 33 || 22.4 || .458 || .348 || .858 || 1.5 || 2.7 || .8 || .1 || 9.3

| style="text-align:left;"| | 81 || 8 || 22.5 || .543 || .000 || .727 || 4.7 || 1.8 || .6 || .4 || 9.8

Player statistics citation:

Awards and records Tom Gugliotta, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team

See also 1992–93 NBA season

References