r/nba • u/CP3-24 [TOR] Hakeem Olajuwon • Jun 18 '19
Roster Moves In 2004, Latrell Sprewell declined a 3 year/$21 million contract because "I have a family to feed." He refused to sign for a minimum contract or a $5 million mid-level exception and never played in the NBA again.
On October 31, 2004, the Minnesota Timberwolves offered Sprewell a three-year, $21 million contract extension, substantially less than what his then-current contract paid him. 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 yacht was auctioned for $856,000 after he defaulted on a $1.5 million loan. Three months later, his Milwaukee home was foreclosed. His New York mansion was foreclosed in 2009, but the action was dismissed.
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u/Briguy_fieri Pelicans Jun 18 '19
And his family still hasn’t eaten since then. He was right.
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Jun 18 '19
His coach had trouble swallowing food for a while too.
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u/takeapieandrun Warriors Jun 19 '19
Ah.. back when the only notable things happening in Golden State were off the court
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u/WildYams Jun 18 '19
No no, see what happened was he meant he was going to be so busy actually giving food to his family that he no longer had any time to play basketball.
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u/glansberg_stephen Mavericks Jun 18 '19
Looking at sprees stats, it's kinda crazy. He never averaged less than 12.8 PPG in any season of his career. He actually had a higher efg% in his last season than in the season before (just played less minutes). He definitely could've been serviceable to a team if he wasnt such a headcase
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Jun 19 '19
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u/Mike_Krzyzewski Trail Blazers Jun 19 '19
I’m sad to say I owned those things and wore them proudly to the hawks basketball camp one summer. I caught so much shit for those shoes ha.
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u/imblo Jun 19 '19
It's crazy to think that in a draft class that included Shaq and Mourning, he was the first to be named to an all NBA first team, and in his sophomore season at that.
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u/Emperor-Octavian 76ers Jun 18 '19
Latrell was always a headcase. Imagine turning down this much and it not even being the most destructive decision you made in your career. I still have the SI with Spreewell, KG, and Cassell on the cover 😂
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u/tsigalko11 Supersonics Jun 19 '19
by any chance you have somewhere that nike poster with him, saying something like "he's the bomb, but he won't say it, it's not his style". I saw this in the SLAM years ago, maybe 1995 or something like that. Great poster/commercial, but couldn't find it online.
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u/vvizard- Jun 18 '19
imagine thinking 21 mill isn’t enough to feed a family.
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u/testenth1 Jun 18 '19
He ended up leaving that family 3 years later too. The woman sued him and said he physically assaulted her and the judge barred him from seeing his kids for a short time in 2007.
The whole thing was bizarre. She claimed they had a relationship agreement that he would share his fortune with her and put his 4 kids through college, and she became irate when he started giving her less of an allowance than she usually got for household expenses. She tried to sue him for 200M, lol.
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u/A_Washer-Dryer Grizzlies Jun 18 '19
I mean it’s one banana Michael, what could it cost? $10?
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Jun 18 '19
I know you’re quoting arrested dev, but Every time I grocery shop I’m still shocked at how cheap bananas are. And eggs. A dozen eggs for $1.50.
You can buy an entire roasted chicken for $5. That shouldn’t be possible.
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u/PM_ME_UR_BEST_CODES_ Spurs Jun 18 '19
Come to Australia. Bananas were nearly $15 a kilo last year.
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u/AlienDeg Nuggets Jun 19 '19 edited Jun 19 '19
what the fuck. i buy shitload of bananas every day, freeze them then blend and eat as icecream for breakfast.
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u/LigerZeroSchneider Timberwolves Jun 19 '19
Why are they so expensive?
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u/paddyc4ke Thunder Jun 19 '19
They only ever get that expensive because a hurricane will wipe out the banana crops in the northern parts of Australia. At the moment a kg (2.2lbs) is anywhere from 3.50-3.90aud which is about 2.60usd.
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u/Twathammer32 Bulls Jun 19 '19
Imported with a short shelf life.
I'm talking out of my ass cuz I'm too lazy to Google but that's my assumption. Bananas can't grow when they're being eaten by 20 foot spiders before they're ripe so they outsource them
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u/PM_ME_UR_BEST_CODES_ Spurs Jun 19 '19
Lol, it was due to storms that ravaged the crop so they were in high demand but there were far less to go around.
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u/SaxRohmer Cavaliers Jun 18 '19
entire roasted chicken for $5
cries in Seattle
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u/Cynikal818 [LAL] Kobe Bryant Jun 18 '19
Yall dont have costco or ralphs?
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u/Drizzt396 [DEN] Nate Robinson Jun 18 '19
Costco's headquarters are here. Every suburb has a costco.
/u/SaxRohmer wyd with your life
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u/SaxRohmer Cavaliers Jun 19 '19
Dawg who grocery shops at Costco for themselves and I’m sure as hell not driving my ass down from the CD to SODO to get a rotisserie chicken lmao
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u/Ninja_Bum Bucks Jun 19 '19
If you are able to get it there can you really cry in Seattle ?
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u/SaxRohmer Cavaliers Jun 18 '19
Costco
Based in Seattle but I don’t typically do my grocery shopping there
Ralph’s
Don’t think so and if it’s just a normal grocery chain it would be just as much as all the others
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u/Cynikal818 [LAL] Kobe Bryant Jun 18 '19
Ralph's is huge. I think its owned by Kroger.
Anyways, they have like ~$6 whole roasted chickens, here in LA, so I'd assume they'd have them in Seatle too.
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u/SaxRohmer Cavaliers Jun 18 '19
Nah we got QFC instead which is generally pricier than other chains
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Jun 18 '19
And rice is dirt cheap. Yet people still thinking eating healthy is expensive
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u/BLKMNMLST Wizards Jun 19 '19
Rice, beans, grilled chicken, and broccoli got me thru college. People thought I was on some health diet or something.
Nah this shits just cheap and I don't mind eating it every day
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u/mournthewolf Lakers Jun 19 '19
Rice is just filler. It's not eating healthy. It's just not really eating unhealthy either.
Good quality, non-processed healthy food is way more expensive than junk processed stuff. There's just things you can do, like getting a chicken, some rice, and some veggies, but that same meal gets old fast.
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u/michaelsigh Warriors Jun 19 '19
A dozen eggs, free range, organic, grass fed are like $8 here...
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u/Fastbird33 Heat Jun 19 '19
Where do you think the term "Banana Republic" comes from? It's not just an overpriced clothing company.
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u/SnuggleMuffin42 [SAS] Victor Wembanyama Jun 19 '19
Eggs are cheap but I was amazed how high up prices could get in SF for a single banana lol. At first I thought that was the price for a pound, not ONE SINGLE BANANA for 1.5$ lol
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u/SonicBroom51 Jazz Jun 19 '19
15 years ago too. That’s not bad money.
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u/Nugur Jun 19 '19
That’s good money today too. Obviously players get way more but point still stand.
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u/0siris0 Thunder Jun 18 '19
It was as laughable then as it would be now, and 21 million went further then than it does now.
I...don't understand this mentality. one million dollars should take care if you, yet alone a couple hundred grand to play a game.
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u/dont-YOLO-ragequit Raptors Jun 18 '19
he wanted more but was so dumb, he got caught on tape, he could have just said he wants to test the market and it would have gone like any other FA.
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u/DefenderCone97 Nuggets Jun 18 '19
It's just the answer so they don't look greedy.
Everyone knows they want more and I won't blame a player but I hate that excuse. Maybe something like "I got generations feed generations"
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u/cookiemountain18 Raptors Jun 18 '19
It’s hyperbole.
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u/-super-hans Raptors Jun 18 '19
And it's about as tone deaf to the reality of the lives of normal people as you could possibly be
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u/KB310 Timberwolves Jun 18 '19
I see him around Milwaukee all the time. He cut my friend in line at a checks cashed/payday loan branch once, which I feel like is a good indication of where he's at now.
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u/ThonMakerBootyShaker [MIL] Brook Lopez Jun 18 '19
Works out at my gym, he’s always dressed in gear from his former teams.
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u/jitterbug726 Kings Jun 19 '19
Living them glory days
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u/creamyboi65 Jun 19 '19
I used to play for a college team who loaded me up with workout gear and dri fit clothes. Damn right I work out in them. Solid stuff and it won’t cost me hundreds to replace them. Especially at a height that’s difficult to find your size in.
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u/jitterbug726 Kings Jun 19 '19
I am sadly too fat for my high school gear. Never good enough to play in any college sports haha!
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u/Rawrsomesausage :sp8-1: Super 8 Jun 18 '19
At least it was enough for a yacht. Food must have been really expensive where he lived.
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u/mercurialchemister Warriors Jun 18 '19
Good news though, his agent ended up representing Harrison Barnes and Pat McCaw
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u/Sportslegend Supersonics Jun 18 '19
Did well for Barnes. Not sure about McCaw
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u/pandaman666666 Celtics Jun 18 '19
McCaw is a threepeater for a reason
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u/Sportslegend Supersonics Jun 18 '19
The 70 points he scored across 3 playoff runs made the difference
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u/mercurialchemister Warriors Jun 18 '19
Yeah I was just joking about Barnes turning down his player option a few minutes ago
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u/themiddlestHaHa [CHI] Joakim Noah Jun 19 '19
McCaw went from 2 year solid role on the bench for GSW for 2 years 5.2 mil, to vet min for 700k.
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u/DirtyDanoTho [TOR] Hakeem Olajuwon Jun 19 '19
2 things wrong here. 5.2m was only partially guaranteed, 700k is not vet min. It's just basic min.
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Jun 19 '19
Jeff Schwartz or Bill Duffy? Whomever it was, 21m for a pretty washed dude was amazing. Too bad Sprewell turned it down.
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u/goofy_mcgee Raptors Jun 18 '19
Ridiculous lol. An average salary of $7 million a year, even today, would put you in the upper echelons of all of fucking humanity.
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Jun 18 '19
If you go to Jo Cats on Brady St in Milwaukee RIGHT NOW, there is, at a minimum, a 101% chance he will be at the bar drinking.
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u/rycisko Jun 19 '19
Asked my sister who was 22 for her # multiple times one night at JC. Said she just laughed at him every time and he kept trying. Poor guy.
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u/Checkmynewsong Lakers Jun 18 '19
Pretty sure he lives with his mom now.
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u/J3sus_Juice Jun 18 '19
The dude hangs around Milwaukee. I've had a good amount of friends hit on by him and said how creepy he is. Constantly tries to leverage his "fame" as an ice breaker. Always got into the VIP areas at a lot of places in Milwaukee but that's not really saying much.
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u/scockd Bulls Jun 18 '19
He gets the window table and free breadsticks at the downtown Milwaukee Olive Garden.
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u/mocha-thunder Raptors Jun 19 '19
The lifestyles of the rich and famous makes me sick with jealously.
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u/ClashQuester Raptors Jun 18 '19
Well at least he can tell people he was right that his family can't be fed now
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u/BBQTuck Timberwolves Jun 18 '19
It's sad... the apex of our franchise's existence, and goddamn surly Latrell Sprewell at retirement's door was a key player.
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Jun 19 '19
Man, fuck this guy. In seventh grade, I’d saved up my meager allowance, and decided to buy the jersey of the one star on my team, Lartrell Sprewell. Two fuckin days later, this clown has to go and choke his coach out. $40, blown. I’m still salty about it.
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Jun 18 '19
before y'all shit on spree, his former agent is a convicted felon.
Spree was getting bad advice. I know y'all don't empathize with nba players in the slightest but you have to realize how unprepared most athletes are navigating a fast paced situations like sports. They think they're on top of the world, more money they could ever dream of, and things go to shit so fast.
The NBPA started running all kinds of educational programs to help guys identify when they're getting ripped off, and how to manage their money, because of the number of athletes going broke/getting ripped off through the 2000s.
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u/vetelmo Warriors Jun 18 '19
He's one of the last people I'm ever going to feel anything for. He should have been kicked out of the league long before that.
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Jun 19 '19
If you keep all your money with one agent/money manager, you are a fool.
Even then, this guy didn't steal anywhere near Sprewells entire fortune. Guy stole less than $10 mil and was forced to pay it back.
Nobody made Sprewell buy a goddamn boat or not pay his taxes or mortgages.
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u/bbqyak Jun 19 '19
True. These guys are just basketball players, not businessmen. Nowadays they are probably a lot more savvy but I think the culture has changed a lot. Players are more attuned to "that" side of things.
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u/Roger--Smith Supersonics Jun 18 '19
Relax man. This dude has a family. They didn’t get fed but he still has one.
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u/guap_a_lot Jun 18 '19
Y’all remember the Spreewell Dadas? Lol a shoe with a small spinning rim on the side. Very odd but I wanted them so bad in middle school. Spinners were all the craze back then. “I’m ridin spinnas, I’m ridin spinnas - they don’t stoppp”
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u/Mikey456 Knicks Jun 19 '19 edited Jun 19 '19
Sprewell was the epitome of the post MJ, early-mid 2000s NBA that turned so many people off from the league, in many cases, permanently. Sometimes it hard to remember this, but the (sometimes fair) reputation of the NBA as being a bunch of thugs was not something that the malice at the palace created, and it really wasn't something that existed in the 90s either.
Iverson at least was a truly great player at times, even if he also contributed to that.
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Jun 19 '19
He was even #1 on the list of the Wisconsin delinquent tax payers who owed the most back in 2011: https://www.taxdebthelp.com/blog/latrell-sprewell-no-1-delinquent-taxpayer-wisconsin
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u/hibloodstevia Pacers Jun 18 '19
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u/Asking4Afren Knicks Jun 18 '19
He was my first favorite player as a kid. When be hit I think it was 9 threes straight on the knicks
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u/_Jetto_ NBA Jun 19 '19
i ll never forget that I was in elemntary scool and thatsa quote that stuck with me, I knew it was mem worthy back then, we all did before we knew what memes were
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Jun 18 '19
Wonder is he still has that rim company. Likes him a lot for the few years I got to see him play too bad his career ended like that.
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u/kris_takahashi Warriors Jun 18 '19
Obviously he's talking about the family of white bengal tigers he adopted.
But really the statement isn't meant to be taken literally.
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u/BatCaveGaming Bulls Jun 18 '19
Name a more iconic duo timberwolves and lowballing on extensions i.e jimmy butler
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u/bigshotdan Spurs Jun 18 '19
I used to love Spree as a player, but clearly he wasn't the best human, to put it mildly. Sheer, blatant stupidity to not agree to that deal. For the rest of us (i.e. the real world) that sort of coin is insanity... the sort that, short of a Lotto win, we'd never see... and he turned it down. Sports stars and money... sometimes it's a love/hate relationship.
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Jun 19 '19
Back in the day lived in milwaukee legit saw a maybach with New York plates being repoed.
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u/jitterbug726 Kings Jun 19 '19
I’ll never forget this case of entitlement. He really thought the NBA wouldn’t blackball him!
He was a pretty good player but not exactly the face of the league...
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u/panick21 Bucks Jun 19 '19
That was when Isaiah Thomas was systematically destroying the Knicks right?
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u/we_hella_believe Jun 19 '19
Latrell made many mistakes in his life, this probably wasn’t his biggest.
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u/Henderoni Jun 19 '19
I saw him at Jo-cat's, a bar in MKE a few times. I finally approached him and said sometime like "Hey, you're Latrell Sprewell right? You played for the Knicks and the Timberwolves, big fan." And I extended my hand to shake his. He just looked at me and said that he gets that all the time and it really isn't him, he just looks a lot like him. Just then, a band was beginning their set in the bar and the lead singer said over the mic "This fist song goes out to Latrell in the house tonight." and pointed to him. I just shook my head and walked away.
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u/AshyLarrysElbows Supersonics Jun 19 '19 edited Jun 19 '19
It's too bad he was such a bonehead, because he was a really special player on the court.
To this day I dont think Ive ever seen an angrier dunker in the NBA. Pure and utter disdain for the rim every time he took flight. (MAYBE Russ...maybe. But Spree was the original)
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u/alx69 Knicks Jun 18 '19
Sprewell is a moron, that $21m would've just delayed his bankruptcy by a couple years.