Background and career
Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves during his 13-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. During his career, Sprewell received four NBA All-Star selections, an All-NBA First Team selection, and an NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection. He helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals and the Timberwolves to the 2004 Western Conference finals. Sprewell's career was overshadowed by a 1997 incident in which he choked and punched then-Warriors coach P. J. Carlesimo during practice, which resulted in a 68-game suspension.
Sprewell attended Washington High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sprewell played competitively with the Three Rivers Community College Raiders Basketball Team in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1990 to 1992 for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was a teammate of future NBA players Robert Horry, Jason Caffey, James Robinson, and Marcus Webb.
Sprewell was selected 24th overall in the 1992 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Sprewell, nicknamed "Spree", made an immediate impact, starting 69 of the 77 games he played in during his rookie season and averaging 15.4 points per game. He was a member of the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 1993 and both the All-NBA First Team and the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 1994. His performance steadily improved, leading the team in scoring and representing the Western Conference in the 1994, 1995, and 1997 NBA All-Star Games. In 1993–94 he led the league in games played and minutes per game as the Warriors, led by Sprewell and NBA Rookie of the Year power forward Chris Webber, made it back to the playoffs. They lost in the first round to the Phoenix Suns in three games.
On December 1, 1997, Sprewell attacked head coach P. J. Carlesimo during a Warriors practice in Oakland. When Carlesimo yelled at him to make crisper passes (specifically asking him to "put a little mustard" on a pass), Sprewell responded that he was not in the mood for criticism and told the coach to keep his distance. When Carlesimo approached, Sprewell threatened to kill him and dragged him backward by his throat, choking him for 7 to 10 seconds before his teammates and assistant coaches pulled him off Carlesimo. Sprewell returned about 20 minutes later after showering and changing and again accosted Carlesimo. He landed a glancing blow at Carlesimo's right cheek before being dragged away again by the assistant coaches. This was not Sprewell's first violent incident with the Warriors; in 1995, he fought with teammate Jerome Kersey, returned to practice carrying a two-by-four, and reportedly threatened to return with a gun. In a 1993 practice, Sprewell fought with Byron Houston, who was 50 pounds (23 kg) heavier than Sprewell and had what many teammates described as a Mike Tyson-like demeanor and physique. Sprewell was initially suspended for 10 games without pay. The next day, in the wake of a public uproar, the Warriors voided the remainder of his contract, which included $23.7 million over three years, and the NBA suspended him for a year. Sprewell took the case to arbitration and the contract voiding was overturned, but the league suspended him for the rest of the season without pay, which amounted to 68 games. He sought to vacate the arbitration contract under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. His case went through all appeals, and was remanded. During the time he was serving his suspension, Sprewell was charged with reckless driving for his role in a 90-mile-per-hour (145 km/h) automobile accident that injured two people. He spent three months under house arrest as part of a no-contest plea. Sprewell's 68-game suspension was the second longest suspension ever issued by the NBA, only eclipsed by Ron Artest in 2004.
Due to the NBA lockout, Sprewell did not play again until February 1999, after the Warriors traded him to the New York Knicks for John Starks, Chris Mills, and Terry Cummings. Sprewell played 37 games for the Knicks that season, playing off the bench in all but four games. Many pundits felt that trading for the allegedly volatile Sprewell was too big a gamble for the Knicks, but Sprewell vowed he was a changed man. The Knicks, who at the time still revolved around veteran All-Star center Patrick Ewing, narrowly qualified for the 1999 playoffs, making the field as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers, becoming the first eighth seed in NBA history to reach the Finals, where the by-now injury-riddled team were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games. Sprewell enjoyed a good series for the most part, averaging 26.0 ppg. He tallied 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Knicks' 78-77 Game 5 loss, and was featured on the cover of the September 1999 issue of SLAM Magazine. Sprewell moved into the Knicks' starting lineup for the 1999–2000 season at small forward, and averaged 18.6 points, helping the Knicks to a 50–32 record, good enough for the third seed in the Eastern Conference, led by Sprewell, Ewing and shooting guard Allan Houston. The Knicks advanced past the Toronto Raptors in three games and the Miami Heat in seven in the first two rounds of the playoffs, en route to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. But their quest for back-to-back NBA Finals appearances came to an end when they lost to the Pacers in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Sprewell averaged 19.7 ppg in the series, and the Knicks gave him a five-year, $62 million contract extension. The 2000–01 season saw Sprewell step up as the Knicks' leader with Ewing traded to the Seattle SuperSonics, making his only All-Star appearance for the Knicks that year, scoring 17.7 points. But despite another impressive season from Sprewell, the Knicks lost in the first round to the Toronto Raptors in five games in the playoffs. In 2001–02 Sprewell averaged 19.4 ppg, including 49 points in a game against the Boston Celtics, one of three times he scored 40 or more points that season; but the Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. Before the 2002–03 season, Sprewell reported to training camp with a broken hand, which he claimed occurred when he slipped on his yacht; the Knicks fined him a record $250,000 for failing to report the incident. He then sued the New York Post for claiming he had broken his hand in a fight. Sprewell lost the lawsuit. That season, Sprewell made NBA history as he hit 9 of 9 three-point shots in one game, making the most three-pointers without a single miss for the first time en route to a season-high 38 points versus the Los Angeles Clippers. The record has since been tied twice by Ben Gordon once as a Chicago Bull and once as a Detroit Piston. Later Knick Jalen Brunson also tied the record. After that season, in which the Knicks missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, Sprewell was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a four-team trade involving Keith Van Horn, Glenn Robinson, and Terrell Brandon.
