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Depending on how good the texture I have to work with is, I would say the sphere is usually ready to go. If not, I would use the UVW Map modifier and choose Spherical projection in Max. Worst case scenario is the poles are giving me trouble, I would spherically unwrap it and deal with the poles manually using the Unwrap modifier.
You use the UVW Map modifier to spherical object and Uses spherical mapping, but truncates the corners of the map and joins them all at a single pole, creating only one singularity. Shrink-wrap mapping is useful when you want to hide the mapping singularity.
I will use a modifier named UVW Map for this and choose sphere.