With the NBA celebrating their 50th anniversary in 1996-97, all teams jerseys had a gold NBA logo instead of the familiar red, white and blue. This gold logo added an additional bit of flair to the Hawks already flashy uniforms. Hawks guard Steve Smith enjoyed his second best scoring season in 96-97 with 20.1 points per game. The Hawks made it to the second round of the playoffs where they lost to the eventual champion Chicago Bulls in five games.

Founded as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, the team relocated after 38 days and became the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In '51, the team relocated to Milwaukee and shortened their name to the "Hawks," before moving again in '55 to St. Louis. The team finally settled in Atlanta in 1968 where they remain today.