1993–94 Washington Bullets season

The 1993–94 Washington Bullets season was the 33rd season for the Washington Bullets in the National Basketball Association, and their 21st season in Washington, D.C..^[1] The Bullets received the sixth overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Calbert Cheaney out of Indiana University, and also selected 7' 7" Romanian center Gheorghe Mureșan with the 30th overall pick.^[2][3][4] During the off-season, the team acquired former All-Star center Kevin Duckworth from the Portland Trail Blazers,^[5][6][7] signed free agents Kenny Walker, and undrafted rookie shooting guard Mitchell Butler from the University of California, Los Angeles,^[8] and released LaBradford Smith to free agency after seven games, as he later on signed with the Sacramento Kings.^[9]

However, Duckworth never lived up to expectations as he struggled with weight problems, where he weighed up to 340 lbs during the regular season.^[10][11] After a 6–6 start to the regular season, the Bullets' struggles continued losing ten straight games in December, holding a 15–32 record at the All-Star break,^[12] then suffering a nine-game losing streak in March. The Bullets finished in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 24–58 record.^[13]

Second-year forward Don MacLean averaged 18.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, and was named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year,^[14][15][16] while Rex Chapman averaged 18.2 points per game, and second-year star Tom Gugliotta provided the team with 17.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. In addition, Michael Adams provided with 12.1 points, 6.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game, while Cheaney contributed 12.0 points per game, and Pervis Ellison averaged 7.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, but only played just 47 games due to injury. Meanwhile, Butler contributed 6.9 points per game off the bench, and Duckworth averaged 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game; also off the bench, second-year guard Brent Price provided with 6.2 points and 3.3 assists per game, while Mureșan averaged 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and Walker contributed 4.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.^[17]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cheaney was selected for the inaugural NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Sensations team.^[18][19] Chapman finished tied in seventh place in Most Improved Player voting.^[15][20] The Bullets finished 15th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 619,756 at USAir Arena during the regular season.^[17][21]

Following the season, Ellison signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics,^[22][23][24] while Adams was traded to the Charlotte Hornets,^[25][26][27] and head coach Wes Unseld resigned after six in a half seasons coaching the Bullets;^[28][29] 27 years later, Unseld's son, Wes Unseld Jr., became the head coach of the renamed Wizards team in 2021, one year after his father's death due to pneumonia at the age of 74 in 2020.^[30][31]

On January 7, 1994, the Bullets nearly dealt with tragedy as forward Larry Stewart was gagged, shot in the neck, and stabbed in the right thigh by four intruders in his Baltimore county home; he was taken to Baltimore's shock trauma center, where the doctors found that the bullet had passed through his neck, narrowly missing his spinal cord. Stewart had only played just three games this season due to a foot injury.^[32][33][34]