On April 30, 2012, the Charlotte Bobcats released from his coaching contract.^[2] On June 20, the Charlotte Bobcats hired Mike Dunlap as head coach.^[3]

Paul Silas

On May 21, 2012, the Orlando Magic fired head coach .^[4] On July 28, the Orlando Magic hired Jacque Vaughn as head coach.^[5]

Stan Van Gundy

On August 8, 2012, the hired Terry Stotts as head coach, and demoted Kaleb Canales back to assistant head coach.^[6]

Portland Trail Blazers

z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs

c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs

y – Clinched division title

x – Clinched playoff spot

† – In the aftermath of the , the NBA canceled the April 16 game scheduled in Boston between the Celtics and the Pacers; the game was not rescheduled because it would have had no impact on either team's playoff seedings.^[12]

Boston Marathon bombing

: LeBron James, Miami Heat^[13]

Most Valuable Player

: Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies^[14]

Defensive Player of the Year

: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers^[15]

Rookie of the Year

: J. R. Smith, New York Knicks^[16]

Sixth Man of the Year

: Paul George, Indiana Pacers^[17]

Most Improved Player

: George Karl, Denver Nuggets^[18]

Coach of the Year

: Masai Ujiri, Denver Nuggets^[19]

Executive of the Year

: Jason Kidd, New York Knicks^[20]

Sportsmanship Award

: Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets^[21]

J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award

: Chauncey Billups, Los Angeles Clippers^[22]

Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award

The New Jersey Nets moved to and became the Brooklyn Nets, returning to the state the team played in when it first joined the NBA from the ABA back in 1976. The Nets now play at the Barclays Center. The first game there would have pitted the Nets against the New York Knicks on November 1, but due to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, it was postponed to November 26. Instead the Nets opened the new season in Brooklyn against the Toronto Raptors on November 3, winning the game by a score of 107–100.

Brooklyn

The ' home arena, the Power Balance Pavilion, was renamed the Sleep Train Arena on November 1. The arena's naming rights were acquired by The Sleep Train mattress company in the wake of Power Balance's legal issues and eventual bankruptcy.

Sacramento Kings

The position in the All-Star Game player balloting was eliminated, beginning with the 2013 game, citing a more perimeter-oriented game and increased use of smaller, faster lineups. Fans can now select three generic frontcourt players in addition to any two guards.^[67]

center

The traded franchise star center Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers then sent Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers, who in turn sent Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets. Another trade also netted the Lakers franchise star point guard Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns, who in turn sent them four total draft picks.

Orlando Magic

In the last trade before entering the regular season, the sent Sixth Man of the Year James Harden, Daequan Cook, Lazar Hayward and Cole Aldrich to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and three future draft picks.

Oklahoma City Thunder

On November 30, 2012, the were fined $250,000 for sitting out Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili and Danny Green prior to a nationally televised Thursday game against the Miami Heat, citing as an act "detrimental to fan interest and to the league".

San Antonio Spurs

On December 5, 2012, became the 5th player (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, and Wilt Chamberlain) all time and the fourth Laker (Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, and Malone) to score 30,000 career points in NBA history, finishing the game with 29 points against the New Orleans Hornets in a 103–87 win. His teammate Metta World Peace also became the 6th player (Gary Payton, Reggie Miller, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, and Bryant) all to record 12,000 points, 4,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals, and 1,000 3-pointers made.

Kobe Bryant

On December 21, 2012, the shot a record-low 0–22 from the three–point area in a 101–93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, who originally held that record by going 0–20 a week prior.^[68]

Denver Nuggets

On January 8, 2013, became the fifth player to reach 10,000 career assists.^[69]

Steve Nash

On January 12, 2013, the became the fourth fastest NBA team (tenth team overall) to gain 2,000 total victories in the regular season (with the only faster teams being the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers), with a 97–81 road victory against the Chicago Bulls.^[70]

Phoenix Suns

On January 16, 2013, became the youngest player to reach 20,000 career points,^[71] while also reaching 5,000 assists in the same game.

LeBron James

On January 27, 2013, passed Allen Iverson for 18th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list in a 110–95 victory over the Phoenix Suns. Shawn Marion also played his 1,000th game in the NBA against the team that first drafted him back in 1999, which was a pick that, ironically, was first owned by Dallas.

Dirk Nowitzki

On January 30, 2013, the participated in a three-way trade that sent their leading scorer Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors, with Toronto trading José Calderón to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Memphis gaining Toronto's Ed Davis, Detroit's Austin Daye, and Detroit's Tayshaun Prince.

Memphis Grizzlies

On February 18, 2013, ' owner Jerry Buss died at age 80 at 5:55 a.m. after being hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with an undisclosed form of cancer. His immediate cause of death was listed as kidney failure.^[72][73][74] After the All-star break vs the Boston Celtics, the Lakers debut their uniforms with the Patch of the initials "JB" in honor of Buss.

Los Angeles Lakers

On February 27, 2013, became the 15th player to reach 13,000 career rebounds in a 105–101 overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns would also end an 18-game home winning streak favoring the San Antonio Spurs.

Tim Duncan

On February 27, 2013, scored 54 points but his Warriors lost to the Knicks, 109–105. He shot 18 for 28 from the field, making a Warriors franchise-record 11 three-pointers on 11 of 13 shooting from 3-point range.^[75] The 54 points Curry had was the third highest total by a Knicks opponent in the current Madison Square Garden, trailing Kobe Bryant's 61 points on February 2, 2009, and Michael Jordan's 55 points on March 28, 1995. His 54 points were the most anyone recorded in the 2012–13 season. The 11 3-pointers were good for second most all-time in a game, 1 behind the record 12 made by Bryant (1/7/03) and Donyell Marshall (3/13/05).^[76]

Stephen Curry

On February 28, 2013, moved to 23rd on the all-time scoring list.

Vince Carter

In a March 12, 2013 game against his former team, the , Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard tied his own NBA record of 39 free throw attempts. He made 25 of the 39 attempts. He had previously set the league mark with 39 free throw attempts in a game while playing for the Orlando Magic vs. the Golden State Warriors on January 12, 2012.^[77][78]

Orlando Magic

On March 22, 2013, became the second head coach in NBA history besides Jerry Sloan to win 900 games with one team as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz. Tim Duncan would also surpass Shaquille O'Neal to become the 13th all-time rebounding leader.

Gregg Popovich

On March 27, 2013, the ended Miami Heat's 27–game winning streak which began on February 3 when the Heat defeated the Toronto Raptors 100–85. The Bulls won the game 101–97. It was second longest in NBA history, only surpassed by the Lakers' 33-game winning streak in the 1971–72 season until the Golden State Warriors' 28-game winning streak in 2015.

Chicago Bulls

On March 30, 2013, moved to 4th on the all-time scoring list, passing Wilt Chamberlain in a 103–98 victory against the Sacramento Kings.^[79]

Kobe Bryant

On April 6, 2013, became the eighth head coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games as a head coach. This came as the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Detroit Pistons 107–101.

Rick Adelman

On April 17, 2013, in the regular season finale against the Portland Trail Blazers, Stephen Curry broke the NBA single-season record for most 3-pointers with his 270th of the season. The previous record was held by Ray Allen who had 269 in 2005–2006 with the Seattle SuperSonics. Curry added 2 more 3-pointers to finish the season with 272 in 600 attempts, 53 less than Allen attempted to set his record.^[80] Curry and teammate Klay Thompson set the record for most 3-pointers by a duo with 483, 48 more than the previous record.^[81][82]

Warriors'

The are eliminated from making the playoffs for the first time since 2000, ending their 12-year streak. They lost to the Phoenix Suns 102–91 and were eliminated a few hours later when the Los Angeles Lakers won against the Portland Trail Blazers 113–106.

Dallas Mavericks

The 2013 led to the cancellation of the game between the Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics, which was originally scheduled for April 16.^[83] As both teams' playoff positions were already set, the game was not rescheduled, instead they will force to have a bye. Both teams finished the season with only 81 regular season games,^[83] making it the first time in 58 seasons that some teams played more regular season games than others.^[84]

Boston Marathon bombing

led the league in defensive rebounds for the sixth consecutive season and sixth season overall in his career, both league records. He led the NBA in defensive rebounds every season starting with the 2007–08 season.

Dwight Howard

In the cover story of the May 6, 2013 issue of , written by Jason Collins himself and posted on the magazine's website on April 29, 2013, he came out as gay, becoming the first active male athlete from one of the four major American professional team sports to publicly do so.^[85]

Sports Illustrated

This was the final season for the , who announced that they would change their name to the Pelicans, effective in 2013–14. In turn, the team then known as the Charlotte Bobcats would reclaim the Pelicans' former name and records from the original team's tenure in the Queen City, but it would also keep its own records from its 2004 founding up to this point.

New Orleans Hornets

List of NBA regular season records