pre-season workouts, the Slam began the 2005-06 season on the road, playing their first three games in southern California. With the new players learning to play together, the Slam dropped all three games of the road trip, but each was decided by seven points or fewer. With their first few games out of their way, the Slam took to their home Whatcom Pavilion hardwood for the first time on November 22, playing host to the ABA's defending Western Conference champions, the Bellevue Blackhawks. A lively crowd saw Caleb Gervin, the first player the Slam signed during the summer, lead his team to victory with 32 points.
The Slam's next big game came on December 8, as they faced the unbeaten Beijing Olympian, a team of mostly Chinese players that was based this season in California. The Slam had three players score 20-plus points as they dominated the Olympian for a 122-105 victory.
The Slam's first loss at home came on December 11 to the Vincent Askew-coached Tacoma Navigators, a team that would prove to be a thorn in their side all season. The Slam let a 20-point third quarter lead slip away as Tacoma was able to take the lead with under five minutes remaining. The Slam had chances to tie the game in the dying seconds, but missed three three-point shots as Tacoma prevailed by a score of 115-112.
After splitting a pair of home games with eventual Boone Division champion San Jose, the Slam headed out on the road for three games, one in Tacoma and two south of the border in Tijuana. The game in Tacoma turned out to be a defensive battle, with the Slam eventually losing 95-91, suffering their third consecutive loss to Tacoma to remain winless on the road. Two nights later, however, the Slam would pick up their first road win in Tijuana,125-102, thanks to an amazing 78-point second half. The Slam also won the second of back-to-back games against the Dragons the next night, in a much closer game at 105-99. At the end of 2005, the Slam's record stood at 8-7.
The first half of January saw the Slam go 3-2, with the team picking up a couple of easy wins against a revamped Bellevue team, before heading on the road later in the week to play three games in three nights in central California. The Slam won their first game in Fresno, before rounding out the trip with a couple of hard-fought losses to the Skyrockets in San Jose. After a 10-day break, the Slam played host again to the pesky Navigators in a pair of Tuesday-Thursday games. The Slam finally earned their first win against the Navigators in Tuesday's game, thanks to six players scoring in double figures and Brian Dennis' 18-rebound performance. Unfortunately, the Slam could not take the second game, as they lost a close one in controversial fashion, 92-89. It was the Slam's third loss to Tacoma, with all three losses by four points or fewer.
The Slam rounded out January with a cross-country road trip to take on the Florida Pitbulls, a team that featured NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway as a player/coach. The travel-weary Slam lost the game 123-105, but would eventually get their revenge later in the season.
February saw the Slam's most-anticipated game finally arrive -- the Friday, February 3 game against Dennis Rodman and the Tijuana Dragons. A capacity crowd filled Whatcom Pavilion an hour before tip-off to see the NBA legend visit Bellingham for the first time. Rodman entertained the crowd with three-point attempts and eyes-closed free throws, and not surprisingly finished as the game's leading rebounder with 13. Rodman played three quarters of the game and the Slam coasted to a 115-102 victory. Two days later, without Rodman, the Dragons were annihilated, 157-113, as the Slam set a team record for points on Super Bowl Sunday. Going into the All-Star break the next weekend, the Slam's record sat at 14-10.
The Slam were fortunate enough to have two players selected for the All-Star festivities, Caleb Gervin and Mike Parker. Parker was selected to participate in the dunk contest, but unfortunately some suspect judging kept him from advancing out of the first round of competition despite throwing down the contest's best dunk. Gervin, who started for the West in the All-Star Game, put on a show as he led a comeback and nearly won the game for the West. With his team down 23 points in the third quarter, Gervin helped stage a rally that put the West down by two with seconds to go in the game. After another West player missed a potential game winner with six seconds to go, the rebound was corralled and fed to Gervin at the top of the key, who unloaded a shot at the buzzer than unfortunately didn't drop. Gervin finished with 24 points to share team high scorer honors with Bernard McIntosh.
Following the All-Star break, the Slam welcomed the Los Angeles Aftershock to town for a two-game series, defeating them both times. Following the L.A. series, Tim Hardaway and the Florida Pit Bulls made the trip out to Bellingham for a pair of games. Hardaway got the best of the Slam in the first game, scoring 38 points as the Pit Bulls rallied from a 10-point deficit with seven minutes to play. Once again the Slam lost by just three points, as they were unable to get a shot off in their last possession.
Two nights, later, the Slam enjoyed their most exciting victory to date as they edged the Pit Bulls, 99-98. The Slam trailed for almost the entire game, before taking the lead with five minutes left. After Florida was able to re-take the lead with a putback with 20 seconds to go, Brian Dennis got a putback of his own, off of a Jacob Stevenson miss, to restore a one-point lead with six seconds to go. Florida's Andre Smith missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the Slam's only one-point victory of the season.
The Slam rounded out the regular season with a pair of close road losses to the Southern California Legends and Beijing Olympian, before returning home to defeat the Fresno Heatwave in their regular season finale on March 3, 121-99. The Slam finished their inaugural regular season with a record of 18-14, good for second place in the Boone Division.
The Slam's record assured them of a first-round playoff game at home on March 12, and as it would turn out their opponent was the Tacoma Navigators, a team the Slam had struggled against in the regular season. The Slam used a career-best 45 points by Gervin to seal a 134-116 victory and eliminate the Navigators from the playoffs. The win meant that the Slam would have to travel cross-country to take on the Pittsburgh Xplosion in the second round on the road the following weekend.
The Slam took on the Pittsburgh Xplosion on March 18 at the recently-completed Petersen Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, with a spot in the ABA's Great Eight championship series at stake. The focused Slam built up a 23-point lead well into the third period, only to see the Xplosion shake off the rust of not playing in over two weeks to tie the game with under four minutes to play. But the undermanned Slam persevered, holding Pittsburgh to only two field goals the rest of the way en route to a 122-115 victory. Gervin once again remained at the top of his game in the playoffs, scoring 34 points. The win, one of only two by road teams in the entire ABA playoffs, put the Slam in the Great Eight, where they would face off against division rival San Jose in the quarterfinals.
Following their victory in Pittsburgh, the Slam made the short trip the next day to Rochester, the host for the ABA's Great Eight tournament. Three days later, the tournament began and following a pair of upsets in the first two games of the tournament, the Slam were looking forward to pulling off a third. The Slam started off the game hot, and even held a six-point lead at halftime. Unfortunately, in the second half the Slam ran out of gas against the deeper Skyrockets and eventually lost the game, 138-119. Not even a record 47-point showing by Gervin was enough to stave off the Slam's elimination from the playoffs. Gervin ended the playoffs averaging an astonishing 43 points in the playoffs and was edged by Rochester's Chris Carrawell for the ABA's Player of the Year award.