Mo

In May 2004 Latrell Sprewell told a sideline reporter that chasing a ring is what it's all about. Five months later he turned down $21 million because he had "a family to feed." He never played another NBA game. He'd earned his leverage. Four All-Star games. The 1999 Knicks, the first No. 8 seed ever to reach the Finals, with 35 from him in Game 5. Then Minnesota and a trip to the 2004 West finals. Receipts: roughly $97 million in NBA salary over 13 seasons. The family was eating fine. October 2004. The Wolves offer three years, $21 million. He's 34 and calls it an insult. On the record: "I have a family to feed." That's $7 million a year. The family was not in danger. Nobody offered more. In 2005 his agent said Latrell didn't need the money that badly, and going from $7 million to $1 million would be "a slap in the face." So he took zero million instead. Call it the Pride Discount. Then the bills showed up. August 2007, a federal marshal seizes his 70-foot yacht, the Milwaukee's Best, with about $1.3 million still owed. 2008, a foreclosure suit on his Milwaukee-area home. 2011, Wisconsin says he owes $3.5 million in income taxes. The yacht was named after a beer. The tax bill was named after him. These days he does community relations for the Knicks and talks hoops on MSG. On one show he says fans of those '99 Knicks got their "money's worth." They did. He's the one who left $21 million at the register. Hypothetical: you're 34, a team offers $7 million a year, and your agent calls it an insult. Sign, or start picking a yacht name? Wrong answers get repossessed.