Matt Barnes: ‘I Got Love From Referees, GMs, Head Coaches and Other Players After Derek Fisher Incident’
Matt Barnes driving from practice to his ex’s home in Santa Barbara to physically confront Derek Fisher was one of the wildest NBA stories in quite some time. Since then, Fisher addressed the situation in a piece written for Sports Illustrated “The Cauldron” while Barnes has remained relatively mum on what went down.
During a recent NSFW interview with Dash Radio’s “Hollywood Unlocked Show,” Barnes spoke on his relationship with Fisher, the fight and the aftermath. For those looking for the full interview above, fast forward to the 45 minute mark.
“To be teammates at one point, we was cool, too–hang out, go to dinner, that kind of shit. To having a common bond–his daughter had cancer, my mom had cancer. We was cool so for him to come out and say we was just this or that, cool, whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better…It was a fucked up situation, but I told my ex, you can’t help who you fall in love with but you can handle it in a mature way….If he came to me as a man like, unfortunately this happened, I would have been mad that of all the people in the world she chose to fuck with someone I used to play basketball with. That’s my whole thing. So if you would have handled it the right way, I would have been cool…For me to find out on some bullshit that you pushed my buttons and called my bluff…
“The first thing that went through my head was this motherfucker’s around my kids. That’s first and foremost. If I don’t even know about the shit first of all, how are you in the house I paid for and around my children? I’m not putting all the blame on her, I’m not putting all the blame on him, it’s both of them. But like I said, as a man if you’re taking a penitentiary chance, which he took, you gotta think in real life. If I wasn’t an athlete… people have lost their lives over shit like that.
“You’re not gonna hype me up and make me do some stupid shit to go to jail. I might hit jail for a night for a fight but at the next levels, I’m not playing that…
“When I tell you that I got love from people up in the NBA organizations, referees, GMs, head coaches, other players, from superstars, old players, NFL players, rappers, so many people hit me when that shit went down. He took a chance and he lost and we moved past that.
“There was a lot of people there grabbing me the whole time or it would have been a lot worse, but I think I got my point across…They’re still together and as along as he’s around and treats my kids right, that’s my main concern.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGWz-U2TWAt/?taken-by=in_da_mix
