Sprewell Wins NBA Arbitration

Latrell Sprewell, fired and suspended for a year for attacking his coach, won both his grievances Wednesday when an arbitrator ruled that the team must reinstate his contract and the National Basketball Association must reduce his suspension by five months.

Sprewell will become a member of the Golden State Warriors on July 1.

He was suspended for one year by NBA commissioner David Stern, the longest non-drug-related penalty in league history, for his Dec. 1 attack on coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Stern cited the "premeditated" nature of the attack, but arbitrator John Feerick rejected that characterization.

Sprewell has missed 44 games since his contract was terminated Dec. 3 by the 12-46 Warriors, who are tied for last place in the Pacific Division.

At his arbitration hearing, a total of 21 witnesses testified over four days in Portland, Ore., during the final week of January and four more days in New York during the first week of February.

He filed two grievances, one against the Warriors for terminating the remaining three years of his four-year, $32 million contract, the other against the league for imposing the one-year suspension after the attack on Carlesimo.

Sprewell's attorneys had argued that he was the first player to be penalized by both the league and a team for a serious transgression. His side also argued that the collective bargaining agreement clearly states that a penalty in a case like this could be issued by either a team or the league, but not both.

Sprewell's side also argued that the one-year suspension was too severe when compared with previous penalties issued by the NBA. They also brought up cases of player-coach clashes in other sports in which penalties were issued by either the team or the league, but not both.

The NBA argued that the penalty was not excessive, given the nature of the attack. The league's security department interviewed 23 witnesses in two days and determined that Sprewell got into a fight with Carlesimo at practice and choked the coach, then returned some 20 minutes later and punched him.

The union disputed whether a punch landed in the second confrontation.

The Warriors argued that they had the right to terminate Sprewell's contract under Section 16 of the uniform player contract, which says players must "conform to standards of good citizenship and good moral character" and prohibits "engaging in acts of moral turpitude."