Timeline of NBA in 2010s as league celebrates 75th season

Published Apr. 6, 2022 9:51 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Timeline of the National Basketball Association during the 2010s to the NBA's 75th season. The timeline includes milestone moments in the league’s history and key moments off the court as the NBA celebrates its 75th season:

June 17, 2010: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to win the title in a renewal of one of the greatest rivalries in team sports and their 12th Finals meeting. Phil Jackson adds to his record by coaching his 11th championship team. Kobe Bryant wins his fifth title and is named Finals MVP.

July 8, 2010: LeBron James ends weeks of speculation over his future by

May 3, 2011: Derrick Rose

July 1, 2011: A 161-day lockout begins, eliminating the preseason and trimming the regular season from 82 to 66 games. It ends on Dec. 8 after players and owners come to agreements on revenue sharing and the salary cap. The season begins on Dec. 25.

June 21, 2012: LeBron James finally

Aug. 12, 2012: The Americans

Oct. 29, 2012:

Dec. 14, 2012: Twenty first graders and six educators are shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother at their home before going to the school. He kills himself with a handgun as police arrive.

April 15, 2013:

June 18, 2013: Ray Allen

July 2013: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi start Black Lives Matter as a social media hashtag following the acquittal on July 13 of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The group grows and now has chapters throughout the U.S. and in Britain and Canada fighting against white supremacy, police brutality and systemic racism.

Oct. 30, 2013: Allen Iverson announces his retirement nearly four years after his last NBA game after a second stint with the Philadelphia 76ers. He wound up playing 14 years and finished 19th on the career scoring list with 24,368 points.

May 6, 2014: Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant is named league MVP. His run of 41 consecutive games with at least 25 points helps him pull away from the field. During his acceptance speech, he

June 15, 2014: This time, the San Antonio Spurs close out the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in five games for their fifth championship.

July 11, 2014: LeBron James returns to the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent after four seasons with the Miami Heat.

Nov. 29, 2015: Kobe Bryant, 37, announces in a post titled “Dear Basketball” on The Players' Tribune that his 20th NBA season will be his last. It amounts to a farewell tour, and he is showered with love throughout the season. He retires as the NBA's third-leading scorer all-time.

June 4, 2015: Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors tip off Game 1 of the NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's the first of four straight Finals between the teams. The Warriors win the franchise's fourth championship by claiming the series 4-2.

June 26, 2015: Same-sex couples win the right to marry with the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in the civil rights case.

April 13, 2016: The Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104 for a 73-9 season, breaking the 72-10 mark set by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Kobe Bryant

May 10, 2016: Golden State's Stephen Curry repeats as league MVP and is the first unanimous winner in league history.

June 19, 2016: The

July 4, 2016: Four-time scoring champ Kevin Durant decides to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors, sending tremors through the NBA. The Warriors had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. Angry Oklahoma City fans call their once beloved hero a traitor for joining their top rival.

July 11, 2016: Tim Duncan announces his retirement after five championships with the San Antonio Spurs and 19 NBA seasons after being the only player to win titles in three different decades. Duncan joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish as the only players to win at least 1,000 games in their careers.

July 27, 2016: Hillary Clinton formally wins the nomination as the Democratic Party's candidate for president, becoming the first woman to lead a major American political party.

Aug. 21, 2016: The United States

Nov. 2, 2016: The Chicago Cubs end the longest drought in baseball by beating the then-Cleveland Indians in the 10th inning of Game 7. The Cubs trailed 3-1 before rallying to win three straight for their first title since 1908.

April 8, 2017: Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook joins Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. Westbrook secured the mark in a loss to Phoenix but finishes the season averaging 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists.

April 9, 2017: Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook

Aug. 25, 2017:

June 8, 2018: The Golden State Warriors win their third NBA championship in four seasons and second straight, this time sweeping Cleveland a year after needing five games to win the title. Kevin Durant wins his second straight NBA Finals MVP.

Dec. 18, 2019: President Trump is impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He becomes the fourth U.S. president impeached, joining Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

Jan. 26, 2020:

March 12, 2020: The NBA suspends the season “until further notice” after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tests positive for the coronavirus. The move comes hours after the majority of the league’s owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

July 30, 2020: The NBA restarts the season in a bubble against the coronavirus pandemic inside the Disney complex.

Aug. 26, 2020:

Oct. 11, 2020: The Los Angeles Lakers win the franchise's first title in a decade, beating the Miami Heat in six games wrapping up three months in an NBA bubble at Walt Disney World designed to keep inhabitants safe from the coronavirus. LeBron James and Danny Green join John Salley and Robert Horry as the only players to win titles with three different franchises.

Jan. 6, 2021:

Jan. 14, 2021: President Donald Trump is impeached for the second time, charged with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.

May 20, 2021: The Washington Wizards beat Indiana for the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed and Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors for the Western Conference's No. 8 seed a day later to cap the NBA's first play-in tournament.

July 20, 2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Aug. 7, 2021: Kevin Durant leads the U.S. to another gold medal. He scores 29 points as the Americans beat France 87-82 at the Tokyo Olympics, postponed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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