Violence & Brawls ·
Sprewell Choked His Coach, Then Returned for a Second Confrontation
In December 1997, the Warriors terminated Latrell Sprewell’s contract and the NBA suspended him for a year without pay. He admitted making a mistake but denied punching P.J. Carlesimo and said the coach had provoked him.
On December 1, 1997, Golden State Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell grabbed coach P.J. Carlesimo by the throat during practice. Other players pulled them apart. Sprewell left, then returned for a second confrontation—one that witnesses described as involving a punch, and that Sprewell disputed. Within three days, the Warriors had terminated his contract and the NBA had imposed a one-year suspension without pay.
The first confrontation began during a shooting drill. According to sources in Matt Steinmetz’s contemporaneous account for the Contra Costa Times, Carlesimo gave Sprewell an instruction, and the guard replied, “I don’t want to hear it today.” When Carlesimo approached, Sprewell put his hands around the coach’s throat and dragged him to the ground before players intervened. Witnesses said Sprewell threatened to kill Carlesimo. The coach suffered cuts and abrasions to his neck.
Sprewell was told to leave practice. Sources told Steinmetz that, after returning, he got close enough to throw a punch that landed a glancing blow to Carlesimo’s head before players removed him again. Several players said Carlesimo did not fight back during either confrontation. Sprewell denied punching the coach, saying teammates and coaches had held him back and he never got close enough.
The guard and the first-year Warriors coach had been feuding since training camp began in October. In interviews on December 3, Sprewell admitted making a mistake but said Carlesimo had provoked him through verbal abuse. “I want to apologize to my fans, my family and friends of mine who saw this,” he told KPIX-TV. “It’s definitely not something that I condone, but it did happen. And that’s a mistake I made.” He did not apologize to Carlesimo.
The Warriors initially suspended Sprewell for at least 10 games without pay. On December 3, they terminated the remaining three years of his contract. General manager Garry St. Jean said the team had chosen termination rather than a trade because it believed that was “the correct moral and ethical thing to do.” St. Jean and Carlesimo said the decision preceded the public release of Sprewell’s interviews and was not based on his failure to apologize to the coach.
On December 4, commissioner David Stern announced the NBA’s one-year unpaid suspension. His explanation emphasized the return to practice: after being forcibly pulled away from Carlesimo, Stern said, Sprewell came back and fought through others to commit a second, “clearly premeditated” assault. The actions by the Warriors and the NBA were disciplinary sanctions, not criminal dispositions. Carlesimo said he would not consider filing criminal charges: “It’s a team issue.”
The players’ union said that week it would file a grievance against the Warriors and the league. Union head Billy Hunter called the punishment “excessive and unreasonable.” Sprewell was a three-time All-Star and Golden State’s leading scorer, averaging 21.4 points. His teammates learned of the contract termination after a loss to Cleveland. “Sprewell was our teammate and I treated Sprewell like he’s part of my family,” guard Bimbo Coles said. “I’m shocked. I just don’t know what to say.”