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New York Knicks: 25 Best Players To Play For The Knicks

By Phil Watson

Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view as the New York Knicks are introduced before the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view as the New York Knicks are introduced before the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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UNITED STATES – JANUARY 26: New York Knicks’ Latrell Sprewell drives to the basket past Phoenix Suns’ Joe Johnson during game action at Madison Square Garden. Sprewell scored 28 points to help give the Knicks a 106-98 victory over the Suns. (Photo by Keith Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 26: New York Knicks’ Latrell Sprewell drives to the basket past Phoenix Suns’ Joe Johnson during game action at Madison Square Garden. Sprewell scored 28 points to help give the Knicks a 106-98 victory over the Suns. (Photo by Keith Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) /

SF. 1999-2003. Latrell Sprewell. 24. player. 27. <strong>How acquired:</strong> Trade, Golden State Warriors, Jan. 21, 1999.

Latrell Sprewell spent most of the 1997-98 season and an extended offseason in basketball purgatory after having been suspended for a year–an NBA record at the time–for what commissioner David Stern called a “premeditated attack” on his coach, P.J. Carlesimo of the Golden State Warriors.

Sprewell sat out the final 68 games of the season and was looking for a fresh start after an arbitrator reduced the penalty.

Terry Cummings
Terry Cummings /

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All Sprewell did was serve as the linchpin for a Knicks team that made an unprecedented run in the shortened 1998-99 season from the eighth seed to the NBA Finals.

The San Antonio Spurs topped New York in five games, even as Sprewell averaged 26.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 44.2 minutes a game in the series. He shot .410/2-for-7/.842.

Sprewell was an All-Star in 2001 for the Knicks and the durable swingman was fifth in the NBA in minutes per game in 2001-02.

In July 2003, Sprewell was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a four-team deal in which the Knicks acquired Keith Van Horn from the Philadelphia 76ers, with the Atlanta Hawks also part of the trade.

In five seasons in New York, Sprewell averaged 17.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 39.1 minutes per game on .418/.349/.819 shooting.

He had averaged 17.8 points a game as a senior at Alabama before the Warriors selected him with the 24th pick in the 1992 NBA Draft.

He was a steal.  A three-time All-Star for Golden State, Sprewell led the NBA in minutes per game in 1993-94, a season in which he was named both All-NBA and All-Defensive.

He played his final two NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, eventually retiring after being unsatisfied with the contract offers he had received as a free agent in 2005.

Sprewell is 10th in NBA history with an average of 38.6 minutes per game.

Next: S.T.A.T. Made A Splash Early On

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