Do you still remember him? The creator of Black Eight, who left 21 million and disappeared from the NBA instantly!

"Without an annual salary of 10 million, how can I support my family? Without a team, I would rather choose to retire." Do you still remember this outrageous statement? Yes, that was exactly the summer 20 years ago, when negotiating a contract extension with the Timberwolves, “Madman” Ratrill Spreville said. Although he is 34 years old, in Spreville's eyes, even if the Timberwolves are unwilling to give him an average salary of 10 million, he can still get recruited from other teams. But as the saying goes, you won’t die if you don’t commit suicide. After rejecting the Timberwolves, he completely lost any opportunity in the NBA and instantly entered a retirement state, which is very ironic.

Looking back at Spreville's career, although he has never won the championship, he has very ups and downs. In his sophomore year, he could already contribute 21 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.2 steals. He became the first shooting guard to be selected into the All-First Team of the season after Michael Jordan retired. Since then, he was severely punished for pinching his coach PJ Karesimo's neck and fell into a low point. But in the 98-99 season, he helped the Knicks complete the Black Eight Miracle and completed the Salted Fish turnaround again. However, his last crazy speech made him lose his integrity in his later years. Let’s go back 20 years ago together to see why Spreville said crazy words at that time, and where did he go later!

1. Extremely experienced, helping the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals.

Time first went back to the summer of 2003. The Timberwolves were severely punished by the league due to the incident of Joe Smith's "yin-yang contract". Not only were they banned from signings, but they also lost their draft picks for several seasons. Therefore, this led to their embarrassing record of falling in the first round of the playoffs for seven consecutive years because of their poor lineup. So this year, in order to calm Garnett's emotions and to seize Garnett's peak, they made a desperate move and sent out Terrell Brandon. Through a four-party trade, they got Spreeville, who could contribute 16.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the Knicks. At the same time, they also got Sam Kassel, and the team's back line has been unprecedentedly improved. Since then, the team's "Three-Headed Monster" lineup has been formed, and they are about to create the first glorious period in the history of the Timberwolves.

Unlike the annoying off the court, Sprevier on the court is full of passion, unrestrained personality, and innate confidence, which allows him to maintain sufficient competitiveness no matter what kind of game he is in. In the 2003-04 season, he averaged 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Although the data was not that gorgeous, in that era, this firepower output was completely enough. Moreover, Spreville's value lies in that he is a big heart-level player. The more he reaches the critical moment, the more trustworthy he is. In the end, with his help, the Timberwolves won the best record of 58 wins and 24 losses this year, ranking first in the West. Moreover, in the playoffs, Spreville's data increased to 19.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.6 steals, with a three-point shooting percentage reaching an astonishing 38.5%, helping the team to reach the Western Conference Finals.

2. He repeatedly asked for a large contract but failed and finally announced his retirement directly.

With such excellent performance and the contract is about to expire, the Timberwolves naturally hopes to keep Spreeville in the future. So in the 2003-04 season, the team's senior executives tried to renew his contract with him many times, but Spreeville kept refusing, and there was only one reason, that is, there was not enough money. The Timberwolves dare not give too much contract, mainly because he is older. If he gives a long-term contract and his salary remains high, it is likely to become a garbage contract. So, the Timberwolves gave a contract for the last time, 3 years and 3 years and 20 years ago, although this was not a maximum salary, it was enough to make him live a very comfortable life. After all, Steve Nash, who later returned to the Suns and won MVP for two consecutive years, had a salary of only $10 million per season. But in this case, Spreville said the beginning of "shocking the past and shining the present", which directly caused the Timberwolves to suspend the negotiations with him.

And even worse, by the 2004-05 season, Spreville experienced a significant decline, with a per game dropping to 12.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists. The Timberwolves failed to enter the playoffs this year. So his market value has shrunk a lot. But even when he became a free agent and many teams quoted, he still adhered to his principles and had to ask for an average salary of 10 million, otherwise he would rather stay at home every day. In the end, he disappeared from the NBA in an instant, and no team offered him any more. After that, the madman who had no job still spent a lot of money in life, which also led to the $97 million he accumulated in the NBA and was soon to be squandered. In 2008, due to huge financial pressure, he eventually had to mortgage his house in Milwaukee for debt clearance. Now he can only barely survive, which makes people feel extremely sad.