The 1993–94 NBA season was the Bullets' 33rd season in the National Basketball Association.[1] The Bullets received the sixth pick in the 1993 NBA draft, and selected Calbert Cheaney out of Indiana University.[2] In the off-season, the team acquired Kevin Duckworth from the Portland Trail Blazers,[3] signed free agents Kenny Walker and undrafted rookie guard Mitchell Butler, and released LaBradford Smith to free agency after seven games, as he later on signed with the Sacramento Kings. However, Duckworth never lived up to expectations as he struggled with weight problems. After a 6–6 start to the season, the Bullets struggles continued losing ten straight games in December, then suffering a nine-game losing streak in March. Injuries continued to bite the team as key players like Cheaney, and Rex Chapman both missed significant stretches, and Pervis Ellison missed half of the season again, only playing just 47 games. The Bullets finished last place in the Atlantic Division with a 24–58 record.[4]
Chapman and second-year forward Don MacLean both led the team in scoring with 18.2 points per game each, while MacLean was named Most Improved Player of The Year, and second-year star Tom Gugliotta averaged 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Michael Adams provided the team with 12.1 points, 6.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game, while Cheaney contributed 12.0 points per game, and Ellison provided with 7.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.[5] Following the season, Ellison signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics,[6] while Adams was traded to the Charlotte Hornets,[7] and head coach Wes Unseld was fired.
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.[8][9]