The New York Post, citing sources at practice, said Sprewell put a 15-second stranglehold on Carlesimo, saying: "I'm going to kill you. You better get me off this team, or that's what I'm going to do."
Sprewell is known as selfish and as a problem child, an extreme example of today's high-on-salary, low-on-character NBA player (he makes $7.7 million annually), and the team has repeatedly tried, without success, to deal him.
Carlesimo carries his own tag as a coach unable to deal with just that type, having been run out of Portland by a squad nicknamed the "Jailblazers." He has floundered too with the talent-poor Warriors, opening the season at 1-13.
Could six years of losing in Oakland have driven Sprewell over the edge? Or are player-punks like him, spoiled by the NBA's sneaker-contract star system, ruining the league? This much is obvious: If David Stern isn't popping antacids right now, he's just not paying attention.