Sprewell

ORDER

The Opinion filed on November 7, 2000, and reported at 231 F.3d 520 (9th Cir.2000), is withdrawn.

The panel as constituted above has voted to grant the petition for rehearing without further oral argument and to issue a new opinion. With this decision and action, the previous opinion filed November 7, 2000, becomes inoperative, and the pending petition for rehearing en banc becomes moot. The parties, should they so choose, are at liberty to file new petitions with respect to the new opinion.

So ORDERED.

OPINION

Latrell F. Sprewell (“Sprewell”) challenges the district court’s dismissal of his claims against the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) and the Golden State Warriors (“the Warriors”) pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (“Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6)”). Sprewell’s attorneys dispute the district court’s imposition of sanctions under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule 11”). Sprewell raises numerous state and federal claims challenging the validity of the punishments meted out by the NBA and the Warriors in response to Sprewell’s physical attack on the head coach of the Warriors in 1997. The district court dismissed Sprewell’s…