| 1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League | |
| League: | Yugoslav First Basketball League |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champs: | Jugoplastika |
| Playoffs: | Playoffs |
| Finals Champ: | Jugoplastika |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Partizan |
| Seasonslistnames: | Yugoslav First Basketball League |
| Prevseason Link: | 1986–87 Yugoslav First Basketball League |
| Prevseason Year: | 1986–87 |
| Nextseason Year: | 1988–89 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1988–89 Yugoslav First Basketball League |
The 1987–88 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 44th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia.
| SR Croatia | SR Serbia | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | SR Macedonia | SR Montenegro | SR Slovenia |
| width=40 | width=220 | Regular season ranking 1987–88 | G | V | P | PF | PS | Pt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jugoplastika | 22 | 21 | 1 | 2025 | 1764 | 43 | ||
| 2. | Cibona | 22 | 17 | 5 | 2235 | 2007 | 39 | ||
| 3. | Partizan | 22 | 15 | 7 | 2066 | 1973 | 37 | ||
| 4. | Smelt Olimpija | 22 | 14 | 8 | 2018 | 1943 | 36 | ||
| 5. | Zadar | 22 | 10 | 12 | 2050 | 1974 | 32 | ||
| 6. | Crvena Zvezda | 22 | 10 | 12 | 1937 | 1997 | 32 | ||
| 7. | IMT | 22 | 9 | 13 | 2042 | 2106 | 31 | ||
| 8. | Šibenka | 22 | 9 | 13 | 1976 | 2020 | 31 | ||
| 9. | Bosna | 22 | 8 | 14 | 1992 | 2028 | 30 | ||
| 10. | Borac Čačak | 22 | 7 | 15 | 1839 | 2002 | 29 | ||
| 11. | MZT Skopje | 22 | 6 | 16 | 1858 | 2046 | 28 | ||
| 12. | Budućnost | 22 | 6 | 16 | 1915 | 2093 | 28 |
Only the top four placed league table teams qualified for the playoffs quarterfinal automatically.
Teams placed fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth were joined by the top two Second League teams for an 8-team play-in round. The winner of each best-of-three series advanced to the playoffs quarterfinal round.
Top-seeded Jugoplastika reached the playoff finals dominantly, rampaging though the league with a 21–1 regular season record followed by two confident playoff sweeps.
On the other hand, despite being the defending champions, third seed KK Partizan returned to the playoff finals somewhat unexpectedly, having to overcome second seed KK Cibona's home-court advantage in their semifinal series by improbably defeating the Zagreb team away in deciding game three, 77–83, with Cibona's superstar Dražen Petrović held to only 13 points while Partizan's best player, young center Vlade Divac, scored 23 points.[1]
Twenty-year-old Divac would also become the main story of the finals' opening game despite being absent from it due to picking up a knee injury under never fully explained circumstances. It would later come out that his injury likely occurred jumping out of a hotel window while leaving, without permission, the pre-finals team quarantine to meet with his girlfriend.[1] As a result of missing their best player, Partizan struggled mightily in game one away in Split, getting blown out by 22 points, 101–79, with Jugoplastika's young center Dino Rađa scoring 23 points, Željko Poljak adding 16, and young Toni Kukoč scoring 15.[1] On the other hand, hapless Partizan's best contribution was from their young point guard Saša Đorđević who scored 22 points.[1]
Seeing that without Divac's inside presence they stand no chance versus Jugoplastika, Partizan hustled their injured young center back on the court. Playing on one leg with a heavily bandaged knee, Divac still led the game two scoring with 18 points as Partizan pulled out an 86–80 victory at home.[1] It was only Jugoplastika's second loss of the entire season.
Still-injured Divac appeared in the deciding game three back in Split but was no match for the rampant home team looking for their first league title since 1977. The fact that Partizan played with virtually no inside presence under the basket was heavily exploited by Jugoplastika's center line of Rađa and, as their backup center Sobin posted his season-high 28 points.[1] Jugoplastika won the game easily, claiming the league title.
The winning roster of Jugoplastika:[2]
Coach: Božidar Maljković
| Top placed team in each group advanced to semifinals |
Aranđelovac tournament
| Bar tournament
|
Kutina tournament
| Novi Sad tournament
|