By now, everyone had been made aware of the Matt Barnes vs Derek Fisher issue. If you happen to live under a rock and aren’t aware, Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes heard that Knicks head coach Derek Fisher was at a get together at Barnes’ ex-wife house in Los Angeles. Barnes, who is in training camp with the Memphis Grizzlies, drove over to his ex-wife’s house and “scrapped” with D-Fish, who is dating Gloria Govan.
“What happened Saturday is a personal matter at this point,” Barnes said at a Grizzlies media session. “Being around this league long enough, I know that my personal concern is always my kids, their health, happiness and safety. Outside of that, I’m here to focus on basketball. We’re going to let the process take place and just focus on playing right now.”
Barnes also said that he isn’t really allowed to speak on the matter, as the NBA is looking into the situation.
Barnes, who was teammates with Fisher on the Lakers from 2010-2012, also said that he didn’t drive over 90 miles to get there, which is what early reports stated, and that even didn’t even go over there to fight the Knicks coach.
“I can’t believe people think I was some maniac driving 95 miles and listening to Tupac to go beat somebody up,” Barnes said. “No. I live 15 minutes away, and I was going over to check on my kids because they seemed uncomfortable. That was my main reason for going over there.”
The Grizzlies swing man said he was face timing his son Carter late at night and was worried because he was up late and seemed upset.
“Carter is like the rambunctious one,” Barnes said. “He’s always jumping off the walls. And when I saw his face, he was just sitting there, and I knew something was wrong. I was like, ‘What’s wrong, Carter?’ and he shook his head, ‘No.’ Then he lays his head down on the couch, puts a pillow in front of his face and says, ‘Mommy’s friend Derek is here.'”
Barnes won’t face any charges from the incident, but that doesn’t mean the NBA won’t hand out a punishment.
As for Fisher, he said he spoke to Knicks President, and former coach of Fisher and Barnes, Phil Jackson, but really isn’t commenting on the matter.
“Personal and private matters are personal and private,” Fisher said. “We’re obviously public figures, but we’re at work. So I won’t be commenting on anything that’s happened personally or privately for me. In terms of distraction and how players feel about distraction, we’ll see how it goes for our team. “It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is at this point.”
Barnes, who said he was once cool with Fisher is moving on and putting this behind him.
“Life happens,” Barnes said. “You have to be able to maneuver and separate your personal life from your professional life.”
Love triangles never seem to turn out good, and it only makes it worse that it involves someone from the Knicks organization, considering that team is already a prime-time TV drama.
