2015-16 NBA Season
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50 free 2015-16 NBA Season trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 2015-16 NBA season is the one fans still argue about. The Golden State Warriors rewrote the top of the standings, Stephen Curry shot the league into a new era, and the Cleveland Cavaliers still walked away with the trophy after a Finals nobody saw coming. This quiz follows the season from opening night to Game 7. It covers who finished where in each conference, which teams squeezed into the playoffs and which just missed, the award winners, the rookies, the coaching changes and the records that fell along the way, plus Kobe Bryant's last lap around the league. It is written for anyone who watched that year, from casual fans who remember the big moments to diehards who can still recite the seeding. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave knowing the season better than you did.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Warriors topped the 2015-16 NBA standings with which record, the best in league history?
73–9
A 73–9 finish broke a 20-year-old record, and Golden State never lost two regular-season games in a row or twice to the same opponent.
Q 02Stephen Curry's 2015-16 MVP award was the first in NBA history to be won in what way?
By unanimous vote
By unanimous vote meant all 131 first-place ballots, a sweep that Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James had each missed by a single vote.
Q 03The Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Finals as the first team to overcome which series deficit?
3–1
Trailing 3–1 after four games, Cleveland won three straight, two of them on the road, to claim the franchise's first championship.
Q 04Kobe Bryant scored 60 points in the final game of his NBA career in April 2016 against which team?
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz were outscored 23–21 by Bryant alone in the fourth quarter as he finished a comeback win with 60 points on a career-high 50 shots.
Q 05Which team finished last in the 2015-16 NBA standings at 10–72 after losing its first 18 games?
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers lost 28 straight across two seasons, then the longest skid in American pro sports, before finally winning on December 1.
Q 06In Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Stephen Curry was ejected after throwing what into the crowd?
His mouthpiece
His mouthpiece flew toward a courtside fan after Curry picked up his sixth foul, bringing the first ejection of his career.
Q 07The 2016 NBA All-Star Game was the first played outside the United States; which country hosted it?
Canada
Canada staged it at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, where the West won 196–173 in the last All-Star Game of Kobe Bryant, an 18-time selection.
Q 08Whose 1995–96 team held the NBA record for wins in a season until the 2015-16 Warriors broke it?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan's side followed its record season with a championship, the one prize the 2015-16 Warriors could not add.
Q 09Which star joined the Warriors weeks after losing to them in the 2016 Western Conference finals?
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant announced the move on July 4, 2016, having scored 40 points in a Game 5 defeat during that seven-game series.
Q 10The Cavaliers' 2016 title was Cleveland's first major championship since which team won in 1964?
The Browns
The Browns beat the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship Game, two seasons before the first Super Bowl, and the city then waited 52 years.
Q 11Which Cavaliers guard hit the go-ahead three over Stephen Curry late in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals?
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving's three with 53 seconds left put Cleveland ahead 92–89 and is now known simply as The Shot.
Q 12Which Warriors player was suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 Finals after a clash with LeBron James?
Draymond Green
Draymond Green had hit the playoff limit on flagrant foul points; Golden State, one win from the title, lost that game and the next two.
Q 13Which team went 40–1 at home and won 67 games in 2015-16 yet finished only second in the West?
San Antonio Spurs
Q 21Which 2015 Finals MVP had a late layup blocked by LeBron James in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals?
Andre Iguodala
Andre Iguodala's shot would have broken an 89–89 tie; James caught him from behind in a play remembered as The Block.
Q 22Which Warriors guard made a then-playoff-record 11 three-pointers in Game 6 of the 2016 West finals?
Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson scored 41 points on the road with Golden State facing elimination, forcing a Game 7 that it won at home.
Q 23Which 12–51 team stunned the 55–5 Warriors by 17 points in a March 2016 regular-season game?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers' 112–95 win was the first by a team winning under 20% of its games over one winning over 90% so late in a season.
The San Antonio Spurs opened with an NBA-record 39 straight home wins and still ended six games behind Golden State.
Q 14Which team's franchise-record 56 wins in 2015-16 left it one game behind Cleveland atop the East?
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors then won a seven-game series for the first time and reached their first Eastern Conference finals, losing to Cleveland in six.
Q 15Which team came within one win of knocking out the Warriors in the 2016 West finals?
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder had won Games 3 and 4 by a combined 52 points, then let a 13-point lead slip away in Game 7.
Q 16Which assistant replaced David Blatt in January 2016 and coached the Cavaliers to the NBA title?
Tyronn Lue
Tyronn Lue took over a team that was 30–11 and leading the East, then became the first coach to win his first ten playoff games.
Q 17Which big man in April 2016 became the first NBA player to win 1,000 games with a single team?
Tim Duncan
Tim Duncan joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish, then the only players with 1,000 wins, and retired that July after 19 seasons.
Q 18Which No. 1 pick of the 2015 draft won the 2015-16 NBA Rookie of the Year award with Minnesota?
Karl-Anthony Towns
Karl-Anthony Towns started all 82 games, averaging 18.3 points and 10.5 rebounds, and followed teammate Andrew Wiggins as the award's winner.
Q 19In November 2015, Kobe Bryant announced that the 2015-16 season would be his last in what form?
A poem
A poem titled Dear Basketball ran on The Players' Tribune, and its 2017 animated film version won Bryant an Academy Award.
Q 20Which coach won 2015-16 NBA Coach of the Year despite missing his team's first 43 games?
Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr returned from back surgery on January 22 to a team already 39–4 under an assistant, and league rules credited every one of those wins to him.
Q 24Which team ended the best start in NBA history by handing the 2015-16 Warriors their first loss?
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks stopped Golden State at 24–0, a start that had already passed the 20–0 of baseball's 1884 St. Louis Maroons.
Q 25Which European rookie was booed by Knicks fans at the 2015 draft, then starred for them in 2015-16?
Kristaps Porziņģis
Kristaps Porziņģis, taken fourth overall, won over the crowd and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting.
Q 26Which Timberwolves guard beat Aaron Gordon to win the 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest?
Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine defended his title with dunks that included a windmill from the free-throw line, scoring 299 points overall.
Q 27Whose 18 triple-doubles in 2015-16 tied Magic Johnson for the most in a season since 1976?
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook also won a second straight All-Star Game MVP that February, the first player to take consecutive awards outright.
Q 28Which forward won a second straight Defensive Player of the Year award in 2015-16?
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard was the first non-center to win it in back-to-back seasons since Dennis Rodman, and he finished second in the MVP race.
Q 29Which assistant led the Warriors to a 39–4 start in 2015-16 as interim head coach?
Luke Walton
Luke Walton was named a Coach of the Month while officially winless, because NBA rules credited the victories to the absent head coach.
Q 30Stephen Curry broke his own record of 286 three-pointers in a season by making how many in 2015-16?
402
402 threes beat the old mark by 116, and Curry got there with ten on the final night of the regular season.