## Facts

- Latrell Sprewell was a star guard for the Golden State Warriors.
- Sprewell’s relationship with head coach P.J. Carlesimo had deteriorated before the incident.
- During a team practice, Carlesimo raised his voice while directing Sprewell on a play.
- Sprewell cursed at Carlesimo, and Carlesimo responded with profanity.
- Sprewell lunged at Carlesimo and placed his hands around Carlesimo’s throat, choking him until coaches and players intervened and pulled him away.
- Sprewell was taken to the locker room but later returned to the court and walked toward Carlesimo again.
- Despite efforts by players and staff to separate them, Sprewell managed to punch Carlesimo.
- Following the incident, the Warriors terminated Sprewell’s player contract.
- NBA Commissioner David Stern imposed a one-year suspension.
- Sprewell (through the NBPA grievance process) challenged the termination and the length of the league suspension, and the dispute proceeded to arbitration under the NBA–NBPA collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

## Issues

1. Whether the Warriors had contractual just cause under the NBA–NBPA CBA to terminate Sprewell’s player contract for the practice assault.
2. Whether the commissioner’s one-year suspension was authorized and appropriate under the CBA’s disciplinary framework.
3. Whether, under the CBA, the combined effect of team discipline and league discipline for the same misconduct could exceed what the agreement and labor-arbitration just-cause standards permit.

## Decision

- The arbitrator set aside the Warriors’ termination of Sprewell’s contract and ordered that the contract be reinstated.
- The arbitrator sustained major league discipline but reduced the commissioner’s one-year suspension to 68 games, making Sprewell eligible to return on July 1, 1998.
- The result left Sprewell with an exceptionally severe penalty in lost playing time and pay (commonly reported as roughly $6.4 million in salary loss), but not the additional sanction of contract forfeiture.

## Legal Principles

- In labor arbitration under a CBA, the arbitrator’s task is to interpret and apply the agreement’s discipline provisions and the parties’ established practice, rather than impose punishment based solely on public reaction or the seriousness of the conduct in the abstract.
- “Just cause” review can permit strong sanctions for violent workplace misconduct, yet still bar termination when the CBA’s language, structure, and practice do not support forfeiture of a guaranteed player contract on top of other severe discipline.
- A commissioner’s disciplinary authority under a sports CBA may be broad, but it remains subject to arbitral review for contractual limits and proportionality when the agreement provides for grievance review.
- When both the club and league impose discipline for the same incident, the arbitrator may consider the total penalty in deciding whether a particular sanction (such as termination) exceeds what the CBA allows.

## Conclusion

In *In re Latrell Sprewell*, the NBA–NBPA arbitrator ruled that Sprewell’s assault on his coach warranted extraordinary punishment, but that the CBA did not justify the Warriors’ additional step of terminating his contract. The award reinstated the contract, reduced the league’s one-year suspension to a 68-game suspension ending July 1, 1998, and set a high-water mark for discipline while keeping the outcome within the CBA’s just-cause and remedial limits.


In re Latrell Sprewell, NBA-NBPA Arb. (1998)