BREAKING NEWS! BOSTON CELTICS GIVE SHOCKING VERDICT TO TEAM STAR!
The NBA has been a storied league since it’s creation nearly 60 years ago. We have been subjected to some of the most athletic and entertaining performance’s by the world’s greatest athletes. Their play on the court dazzels us, inspires, and gives us something to believe it when we see the show’s they put on a nightly basis.
While their on the court performances are always highlight material, it’s their off the court performance’s that grab our attention as well. The NBA is well known for it’s humanitarian work, but a number of players and their extracurricular activities that baffle us and turn the NBA world on it’s side.
Most of these activities that happen outside of the hardwood aren’t too worth noting, but there are other events that occur every few years that rile up the community and shock the world.
Some of the events are felonies, others are misdemeanors, and others are petty differences, but they all affect us in some negative light and give us a different view of how we should see the people we call heroes and idols.
In no specific order, here are the twenty moments that shocked the NBA world.
Taken by the Charlotte Hornets with the second pick in the 1992 draft, Alonzo Mourning was ready to establish himself as one of the more threatening post players in the league. Zo made an impressive first-year impact with the Hornets by averaging 21 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks per game.
His first three seasons with Charlotte were nothing short of amazing, but it was his time with Miami where we saw the true tenacity and ambition that Zo possessed. The duo he formed with himself and Tim Hardaway made the Miami Heat into a postseason threat year after year and established the storied rivalry with the New York Knicks in the process.
Following winning his first Olympic gold medal in 2000, Alonzo Mourning was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare life-threatening kidney disease that forced Zo to miss the first five months of the season after needing a transplant.
Without the transplant, Mourning would likely not be walking on the Earth today. It wasn’t until December 19, 2003 that Alonzo would receive the left kidney of his cousin Jason Cooper that would save his life.
Since then, Zo continued to play basketball and would win the championship in 2006 that had eluded him for so long. More importantly is that Mourning is healthy now and has established many charities and foundations to fund and research the disease that nearly ended his life almost a decade ago.
Before Latrell Sprewell was an NBA player that can barely feed his family on $10 million per year with a bad attitude on the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves, Sprewell was an NBA player that had a bad attitude and didn’t exactly know how to control his aggression and emotions.
Sprewell had quickly established himself as a scorer and dangerous shooter with the Golden State Warriors. He had already made three all-star games and was set to become one of the elite players in the league, until one fateful December 1st day where he just couldn’t take any criticism any more from coach P.J. Carlesimo.
During a practice, Carlesimo criticized Sprewell telling him to make crisper passes, Latrell didn’t take too kindly to the accusations and threatened the coach by telling him that he didn’t want to hear it and that he better keep his distance.
When P.J. disobeyed Spree’s orders by approaching him, he threw him down and began to choke the coach for 10 seconds before a teammate managed to disband the two. It was only the first round though as Sprewell came back 20 minutes later and punched Carlesimo on the face.
Latrell would be let go by the Warriors soon after and despite having a good career with the Knicks and T’Wolves, he will be most remembered for this event.
