sentences:  The new general manager of the Knicks made his first notable transaction when he signed controversial shooting guard Latrell Sprewell to a five-year, $61.9 million contract extension that would keep him in a Knick uniform through the 2003-04 season, although he would later be traded.Sprewell was a highly touted basketball talent, but he ran into off court issues with his former organization the Golden State Warriors when he strangled then head coach P. J. Carlesimo during a practice.Soon after becoming a member of the Knicks, Sprewell was involved in a car crash that saw him, "drive his Mercedes-Benz on a freeway from an exit lane".