Latrell Sprewell
One word can sum up this man: iconic.
No one forgets who Latrell Sprewell is, and no one forgets his name. He was one of the most entertaining athletes of his time — and that starts with his shoes that had spinner rims built into them. Those things screamed “I play basketball in 2003”.
Sure, he got in trouble a few times. Sure, he might have choked his coach. In college, maybe he got arrested for stealing batteries. Maybe he tried to beat his Warriors teammate, Jerome Kersey, with a 2×4. These are all “allegations” that, yeah sure, he totally did, but don’t forget how good of a player Sprewell was.
He was a part of the only Timberwolves team to make it to the conference finals. His time with the Wolves was towards the end of his career, but he had great impact on the team for two seasons, starting 161 out of his 162 games with Minnesota.
Although he declined a new contract from the Timberwolves ($20 million wouldn’t feed his family), he was a huge piece of the greatest Wolves team ever. In his best season, he averaged 24.2 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game, and even appeared in four All-Star games.
What puts him over the top as a guy that I want in this hall of fame is that he famously named his yacht “Milwaukee’s Best”, and then proceeded to ruin it by driving it onto land.
Class act, first ballot.