Brian Shaw shares the real story behind Sprewell choking his coach

The true story comes out on Paul George’s podcast!

As much as I’ve enjoyed talking about Draymond Green’s war of words (and fists) against rival teams, sometimes his own teammates, and even local reporters, let’s not forget about who started this gangsta stuff in Dub Nation.

LATRELL SPREWELL! Oakland’s own Brian Shaw and a former teammate of Sprewell’s in Golden State came out with a fascinating interview on “Podcast P with Paul George”, touching on a variety of topics from his extensive time in the league as both player and coach. But the best part for me personally? Breaking down exactly what the heck happened when Spree went on a choking spree against his then-coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Before we go any further, y’all remember that right?

Per Shaw, apparently Coach Carlesimo wasn’t a fan of Sprewell’s non-adherence to the dress code, his French braided hair, or the way he’d listen to Wu-Tang clan in his headphones on road trips.

Check out how it unraveled to the point that Sprewell had to put hands on his own coach while his Warriors teammates didn’t necessarily want it to stop considering how Coach Carlesimo had treated them.

This hits pretty hard for me as this was era of Warriors basketball is where I had my formative years as an Oakland kid myself. When the Sprewell interview happened after his suspension, and Joe Smith was standing with Shaw and Bimbo Coles in solidarity at the press conference, I had literally just gone to Smith’s basketball camp the previous summer.

It’s great to finally get closure on why one of my fav Warriors in Sprewell had to go, and it was awesome to hear Shaw break it on down with some great storytelling. Check it out! And shout out to PG13 for his great work as a podcast host.