Golden State Warriors (1992–1998) 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.
1997 choking incident 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. 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. Sprewell's 68-game suspension was the second longest suspension ever issued by the NBA, only eclipsed by
Ron Artest in 2004.
New York Knicks (1999–2003) 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. 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.
Minnesota Timberwolves (2003–2005) In the
2003–04 season, Sprewell became part of the league's highest-scoring trio alongside superstar
power forward Kevin Garnett and
point guard Sam Cassell. With a 58–24 record, the Timberwolves qualified for the
2004 playoffs as the top seed in the Western Conference. They defeated the
Denver Nuggets in five games and the
Sacramento Kings in seven to advance past the first two rounds of the playoffs. In the Western Conference Finals they met the
Los Angeles Lakers, who defeated them in six games, the Timberwolves' only appearance in the conference finals until 2024. Sprewell finished third in team scoring at 16.8 ppg, behind Garnett's 24.2 and Cassell's 19.8. On October 31, 2004, the
Minnesota Timberwolves offered Sprewell a three-year, $21 million contract extension, a substantial pay cut. Claiming to feel insulted by the offer, he publicly expressed outrage, declaring, "I have a family to feed." He declined the extension and the Timberwolves offered him nothing more. Having once more drawn the ire of fans and sports media, Sprewell had the worst season of his career in the final year of his contract. In the summer of 2005, the
Denver Nuggets,
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Houston Rockets all expressed interest in signing Sprewell, but none ended up signing him. His final NBA game was on April 20, 2005 against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs. One month into the
2005–06 season and without a contract, Sprewell's agent, Bob Gist, said his client would rather retire than play for the NBA minimum salary, telling
Sports Illustrated, "Latrell doesn't need the money that badly. To go from being offered $7 million to taking $1 million, that would be a slap in the face." Several days later, Gist said that Sprewell planned to wait until "teams get desperate" around the
trade deadline in February, and then sign with a contending team—an eventuality that never materialized. Gist said that Sprewell would not be interested in signing for any team's $5 million
mid-level exception, calling that amount "a level beneath which [Sprewell] would not stoop or kneel!" In March 2006, Sprewell was offered contracts by the
Dallas Mavericks and
San Antonio Spurs, both of which were considered at the time strong favorites to win the
NBA Championship, but Sprewell failed to respond and remained a free agent as the season closed. The
Los Angeles Lakers also showed some interest in him at the start of that season, but nothing came of it. Over the course of his career, Sprewell started 868 of the 913 games he played in, averaging 18.8 ppg, 4.2 apg, and 4.1 rpg with playoff career averages of 19.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, and 4.3 rpg. He was an
All-NBA First Team selection at the end of his second season and made the All-NBA Defensive second team that same season. ==NBA career statistics==