“To Say I Grabbed This Kid … I Just Didn’t Like The Disrespect” | Matt Barnes Loses Sacramento Kings TV Job Over Incident At Sons’ Basketball Game

Former NBA player Matt Barnes enjoyed a solid 15-year NBA career playing for various teams, even winning an NBA championship as a member of the Steph Curry and Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors in 2017.

While Barnes enjoyed success on the hardwood, he was far from a choirboy. In fact, the heavily-tatted hooper racked up over $600K in fines during his career.

Matt Barnes Fired From Sacramento Kings Duty For NBC Sports California

A player like Barnes is needed on every team, but even in retirement the former UCLA Bruins standout hasn’t learned when to tone things down. In his latest dustup Barnes went viral for berating a play-by-play game announcer at his twins sons’ high basketball game. The video from the incident has since gone viral, and on Tuesday Barnes was canned from his broadcasting gig.

The seemingly confrontational Barnes was dropped from his gig with NBC Sports California as a studio analyst for the Sacramento Kings following his reportedly threatening to slap Harvard-Westlake student Jake Lancer, who was the opposing school’s game announcer.

He also put his hands on Lancer and reportedly berated the referees and engaged in aggressive banter with other students and spectators.

Matt Barnes Admits He Shouldn’t Touch Anyone

In a recent interview on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” Barnes explained his side of the story, saying he was upset about a technical foul on one his twin sons.

“I was yelling at the refs, Dan. I’ve yelled at the refs my entire college career, my 15-year NBA career. I coach AAU in the summertime. I have high school boys, and I have a 5-year-old coming down the pipeline, so I’m going to be doing a lot of yelling at the refs.

“This particular incident — I will say my mistake was putting my hand on Lancer’s shoulder. A lot of people want to say I grabbed this kid or I did this — I literally put my hand on this kid’s shoulder because it was almost like I was talking to my son. … So he and I had a little back and forth, and obviously … for touching him, I was wrong. But I just didn’t like the disrespect that came with the entitlement where they felt like they could say anything to me.”

While Barnes may be right, he also knows in this era of social media and ultra sensitivity, everything is going to be blown out of proportion. That may be the case here, but Barnes can never lose his cool to the point that he physically touches someone. He’s supposed to be setting the example as the former NBA champion.  Not acting a fool like a dad who never played the game before.

Barnes Once Put Paws On Derek Fisher

The strangest part of this story is Barnes’ twin sons are being coached by former five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher, who’s married to Barnes’ ex Gloria Govan.

Prior to this now cordial relationship between Barnes and Fisher — who were once teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers — the two ballers engaged in fisticuffs upon Barnes finding about Fisher’s and Govan’s relationship.

Barnes reportedly, once drove 95 miles at night to confront Fisher about the relationship with Govern.

Even with cooler heads in that situation now prevailed, Barnes is still letting his well-known bad boy image get the best of him.

In April of 2023, he settled a lawsuit in which he was accused of spitting at his fiancée Anasa Sims’ ex-boyfriend, David Patterson Jr.

Patterson is a former defensive tackle from Ohio State. He spent a season with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 and some time in the Canadian Football League before retiring due to an injury. He and Sims were married for seven years but have been divorced since 2017.

The two men got into an altercation back in January of 2022 during the Cowboys-49ers game at Levi Stadium. The verbal altercation ended with Barnes spitting on Patterson before bystanders intervened to separate the two men.

Don’t feel sorry for Barnes. He made over $35 million in the league and is one-half of the very popular “All The Smoke” podcast with former NBA player Stephen Jackson. So he won’t miss too many meals.