Stephon Marbury
2008 was a confusing year for the former Knicks player. On one hand, he had dreams of purchasing a $40 million private jet to fly around on his own. On the other hand, he was extremely upset when he was ultimately benched, claiming that he felt unsupported by his team. Instead of taking his $22 million salaries and sitting down quietly, he made some remarks that angered military members.
Rick Barry
Rick Barry’s name pops up on more than one list of “worst of” or “biggest instigators” in NBA history. And, that probably has a lot to do with the fact that he’s made a number of ignorant, racist comments in his past.
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson is one of those names that, even if you never watched one of his games, you just know. He’s hands-down one of the best players in the league’s history and the winner of an MVP award. But he’s also had his moments, quite a few of them, actually.
In 1996, he got into a brawl with Dennis Rodman on the court at a game his team played against the Chicago Bulls. The moment got caught on video and is now immortalized, thanks to the internet. He also failed to show up for practices and often dropped the ball, so to speak, when he claimed to have slept through a sponsorship night due to some meds he was on.
Latrell Sprewell
Where to start with Latrell Sprewell? Well, how about the fact that, like so many others on this list, he complained about his salary. In December of 1997, he grabbed a coach by the neck for telling him to “put a little mustard on” a pass. After he was asked to leave the practice where it occurred, he returned less than 30 minutes later to instigate another fight, punching the man in the face before leaving again.
The coach, P.J. Carlesimo, had never really gotten along with Sprewell and had benched him before for being late to too many practices. Initially, they were going to terminate his contract altogether, but they decided to issue a one-year suspension instead.
Jon Brockman
Jon Brockman may not have been the worst teammate in the world, but he wasn’t the best, either. At least, not according to his stats. He had a slow start when he began his pro career with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009, and he seemed to slow down, even more, when he was traded to the Sacramento Kings.
And, while he played some good games during his time with the NBA, he still found himself averaging just 2.3 points each. These days, the former Milwaukee Buck is the head coach of a 7th grade basketball team near his home.