The incident that made Spree notorious and infamous was the choking incident in 1997.
At that time, Spree was still playing for the Warriors, whose head coach had been replaced by PJ Carlesimo—he had found employment in Oakland after leaving Portland.
Like the Heat, the Warriors also favored Trail Blazers products, though one favored players, the other favored coaches.
At the Warriors, Carlesimo was as unpopular as ever with the players; he was too harsh, mean, and liked to yell at the players.
His relationship with Spree was especially poor, multiple conflicts had arisen between the two even before the incident took place, including arguments during games and mutual accusations during training.
When the incident happened, they argued over a passing issue during training, and PJ Carlesimo disregarded the players' attempts to intervene, rushing up for a showdown with Spree.
