USBL team to offer Sprewell $592 per week
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Latrell Sprewell </nba/profiles/profile/0858.html>, suspended for one year by the NBA last month for attacking Golden State Warriors </nba/clubhouses/gsw.html> coach P.J. Carlesimo, will be offered a contract to play this summer for the Atlantic City Seagulls of the United States Basketball League.
According to Seagulls owner Ken Gross, Sprewell will be offered a contract "if (he) has the maturity and humility to accept a salary equal to, but no higher than, the average salary of an American worker."
Sprewell's $32 million contract was terminated by the Warriors on Dec. 3 and he was suspended by the NBA one day later.
Gross has calculated the average American salary to be $592.04 per week.
"We're offering Latrell exactly that -- $592.04 per week," he said. "We're also offering Latrell much more -- a chance to rehabilitate his reputation by showing every sports fan that he has the humility and courage to work for the average American wage."
Gross said he would send a proposed contract to Sprewell's agent, Arn Tellem, immediately after a Jan. 27 arbitration hearing in Portland. Sprewell has contested both the suspension and the contract termination.
"If Tellem isn't interested," Gross said, "well that tells us more about Sprewell's lack of humility, doesn't it?"
Tellem could not be reached for comment.
Sprewell, 27, initially was suspended at least 10 games without pay for twice attacking Carlesimo at a Dec. 1 practice. After considering trade offers, the Warriors opted to terminate Sprewell's contract. One day later, the NBA suspended Sprewell for one year, the longest non-drug ban in league history.
A three-time All-Star, Sprewell was coming off the finest season of his five-year career. He averaged 24.2 points, 6.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds while shooting nearly 45 percent in 80 games in 1996-97. The 1992 first-round draft choice led the Warriors in scoring each of the previous four seasons. |
