Rice would average 22.3 points a game (8th in the league) during the 1997–98 season, finishing second in the league in minutes played and scoring 16 points in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. The Hornets won 51 games, and in the first round of the 1998 Playoffs, they managed to win a playoff series, defeating the Atlanta Hawks before losing to the defending champion Chicago Bulls in the second round. The 1998–99 season would start late and last only 50 games due to a league lockout, and on March 10, 1999, the Hornets traded Rice to the Los Angeles Lakers.