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Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American professional basketball player. A guard-forward, he currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sprewell entered the league in 1992 out of the University of Alabama. He was drafted 24th overall in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. Sprewell made an immediate impact, starting 69 of the 77 games he played in during his rookie season and scoring 15.4 ppg.
Though a four-time All-Star, Sprewell's career has been permanently overshadowed by an incident on December 1, 1997, when he attacked Coach P.J. Carlesimo during a Warriors practice. When Carlesimo yelled at Sprewell to make crisper passes, Sprewell responded that he wasn't in the mood for criticism and told the coach to keep his distance. When Carlesimo approached, Sprewell threatened to kill him and dragged him to the ground by his throat, choking him for 10-15 seconds before his teammates pulled Sprewell off his coach. Sprewell returned about 20 minutes later and landed a glancing blow at Carlesimo before being dragged away again.
Sprewell was suspended for 10 days 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 without pay. Sprewell took the case to arbitration, and, as a result, the contract voiding was overturned and the league suspension was reduced to the remainder of the season. Sprewell did not play again until January, 1999, after the Warriors traded him to the New York Knicks for John Starks, Chris Mills and Terry Cummings.
Over the course of his career, Sprewell has started 789 of the 833 games he has played in, averaging 18.8 ppg, 4.2 apg and 4.1 rpg. He also was a pioneer of the spinning rim.
Sprewell was featured on the cover of the September 1999 issue of SLAM magazine
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