The 2000-01 NBA season was the Wizards' 40th season in the NBA. Washington hosted the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. Under new head coach Leonard Hamilton, the Wizards continued to struggled as people scoffed that their best player Michael Jordan was sitting up in the owner's box. Juwan Howard, who grown disgruntled with all the team failures was traded at midseason to the Dallas Mavericks for Christian Laettner, Hubert Davis, and rookies Courtney Alexander and Etan Thomas, who was injured and did not play until next season. In early March, Rod Strickland was released and later on re-signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Wizards finished last place in the Atlantic Division with a dreadful 19–63 record. Richard Hamilton led them in scoring with 18.1 points per game. Following the season, Mit