Sprewell’s NBA Contract Is Reinstated

Concluding the penalty phase of an incident that damaged everyone it touched, an arbitrator reinstated Golden State Warrior star Latrell Sprewell’s contract Wednesday and trimmed his suspension back to July 1.

Thus, Sprewell is back under contract--for two more seasons at $17.3 million--to the Warriors, who sought to fire him summarily for choking Coach P.J. Carlesimo at a practice three months ago.

Sprewell’s suspension will end July 1 instead of December, as decreed by National Basketball Assn. Commissioner David Stern. However, the player still forfeits $6.4 million, the heaviest fine in the history of professional sports.

“I think the fundamental point is whether you can strike your boss and still hold your job,” said a subdued Stern in a telephone news conference. “The answer is that you cannot strike your boss and still hold your job--unless you play in the NBA. . . .”

Sprewell’s attack on Carlesimo at a practice Dec. 1 touched off a national firestorm, fanned by ensuing events: the team’s announcement it was suspending Sprewell for 10 games, its subsequent announcement it was terminating his contract, Stern’s additional one-year suspension and an Oakland news conference in which lawyer Johnnie Cochran appeared with NBA Players Assn. director Billy Hunter, Sprewell agent Arn Tellem and the Sprewell defense team.

The Warriors’ termination of Sprewell’s contract would have meant $23.7 million in lost pay. The arbitrator, John Feerick, dean of the Fordham Law School, found that excessive.

Wrote Feerick in a decision released in New York:

“The evidence indicates that there is no history of both the league and a team imposing discipline for the same violent conduct, on or off the court. This speaks to the issue of fairness, as I see it.

“I note that . . . $6.4 million exceeds the total of all suspensions imposed on all players for physical altercations during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons combined, and all suspensions imposed for altercations during the 1992-93, 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons combined.

“I find that a penalty of 68 games is commensurate with the severity of the misconduct, addresses the wrong done to the head coach and conveys a message that violence in the NBA will be dealt with severely but always with due regard to principles of fairness.”

Nor did Feerick accept Stern’s argument that Sprewell’s act was premeditated, since the player left the court after choking Carlesimo, returned, argued with his coach anew and punched him.

Feerick said the attacks should be treated as a single altercation and did not constitute “moral turpitude,” as proscribed in Section 16 of Sprewell’s contract, which was cited by the team in trying to void it.

Stern called that part of the ruling “incomprehensible.”

“The arbitrator is a very charitable man,” said Stern, “and he made a charitable decision in respects to Mr. Sprewell in this decision.”

The decision was hailed by Hunter as “a victory that is shared by Latrell and the other 400 members of our union . . . [reaffirming] the sanctity of guaranteed contracts in the NBA.”

Said the Santa Monica-based Tellem: “We are happy Latrell has his contract back. As playing basketball is one of the great joys in Latrell’s life, we are disappointed that he will not be able to resume his NBA career until July 1. Nonetheless, Latrell has already apologized for the incident and he is anxious to put this entire experience behind him.”

Sprewell, barred from all Warrior facilities, is unlikely ever to play for them again and is expected to be traded at the first opportunity.

It was plain, however, the Warriors preferred a firing, which would have cleared $8.3 million off next season’s salary cap and allowed them to offer the money to free agents, rather than a fire-sale trade, in which they will probably have to take players they don’t want.

“The reinstatement is probably going to make two parties unhappy--Mr. Sprewell and Golden State,” Stern said.

The league imposed the largest sports fine ever and the longest non-drug suspension in its history--but it wanted more. In a rare breach of spin control, the normally buoyant Stern said league officials “are a little disappointed” and bemoaned the fact that Feerick “missed the opportunity to send a message of what sports leagues stand for.”

Nevertheless, Feerick upheld Stern’s right to levy unprecedented sentences, which the commissioner promised to use in the future.

“The stakes have been considerably raised in terms of what the commissioner will be able to do,” Stern said. “The next one is going to be a lot more than $6 million, there’s no question about that.”