After Thinking It Over, Sprewell Stays With Knicks

Latrell Sprewell thought it over and decided he’d like to stick around the New York Knicks for a while.

Sprewell has decided to accept the Knicks’ long-term contract extension of $61.9 million for five years. The team also had a two-year, $21-million offer on the table.

For a time, it seemed Sprewell would accept the two-year deal.

“I think if I had taken the two-year, I would have been wondering if it was the right thing,” Sprewell said. “In the back of my mind I would have been thinking, ‘Let’s stay healthy.’ I just want to go out and play and not worry about being healthy because my contract is up in a couple of years.”

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Vancouver Grizzlies owner John McCaw dropped his request for NBA approval of his $150-million agreement to sell the team to Bill Laurie, a move that ensures the club will stay in the Canadian city for now.

NBA officials were concerned that Laurie, owner of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and their arena, the Keil Center, would move the four-year-old franchise after the purchase.

McCaw’s decision came a day after the NBA’s finance committee told him that it wouldn’t recommend the sale be approved because elements of the proposal encouraged Laurie to relocate. A three-quarters vote of the 29 owners is needed for approval.

“The acknowledgment that the Lauries own an arena and a hockey team in St. Louis, that would give the impression that the this team was probably not going to stay long in Vancouver,” said Russ Granik, NBA deputy commissioner.

Under rules set forth in the Grizzlies expansion agreement, the team can’t be moved until after the 2000-2001 season.

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The Detroit Pistons waived veteran guard Pooh Richardson, a former UCLA standout, about a month after signing him to a one-year deal. Richardson spent last season with the Clippers. . . . Charlotte Hornet guard Eldridge Recasner will miss at least the first six weeks of the NBA season because of a broken shoulder and collapsed lung after an accident in forward Derrick Coleman’s vehicle. Coleman was charged with driving while intoxicated after a collision with a grocery store delivery truck. . . . Cleveland Cavalier center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will start the season on the injured list because of a sore left foot. The 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas will sit out at least the first eight weeks of the season, the team said. He missed all but five games last season because of a broken bone in the same foot. . . . Atlanta Hawk forward LaPhonso Ellis re-injured a calf muscle in practice that has bothered him during training camp.