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Matt Barnes wasn’t really known for keeping his temper in check during his time in the NBA, and it appears he hasn’t been able to address that issue in retirement now that he’s been accused of accosting and threatening a high schooler working his son’s basketball game.
The folks tasked with handling disciplinary matters for the NBA got very familiar with Matt Barnes over the course of a career that spanned 14 seasons, as the forward forked over hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines while serving a number of suspensions for incidents on and off of the court.
That included his infamous showdown with Derek Fisher, who was assaulted by Barnes after he discovered his former teammate had started dating his wife Gloria while they were separated.
Fisher (who eventually tied the knot with Gloria) currently serves as the head coach of the boy’s basketball team at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California, and he’s tasked with overseeing a squad that includes his son Drew as well as stepsons Isaiah and Carter Barnes, the twins Matt and his ex-wife had when they were still together.
The elder Barnes has been a regular attendee at Crespi Carmelite games this season, and he made the trek to Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles last week for a game where his sons’ team ultimately lost by a score of 72-54 on the road.
As The Los Angeles Times initially reported, Carter picked up a technical foul in the third quarter—a development that caused Barnes to go Full Basketball Dad while obscenely ripping into the refs over the call.
The tirade was delivered in the vicinity of Jake Lancer, a senior at Harvard-Westlake who was working the play-by-play for the stream of the game and providing listeners an account of what was unfolding.
However, things took a turn when Barnes noticed Lancer was looking at him, and cameras captured him approaching the student and placing his hand on his shoulder while speaking to him before he was pulled away.
This is blatant disinformation. Jake Lancer is one of the most professional people I’ve ever worked with in broadcast or journalism. He did not say “shut up.” Here are videos of what he said immediately before and after the altercation. @Tarek_Fattal @latsondheimer https://t.co/QXwlfP0cOU pic.twitter.com/OUSedsNEEX
— Julian Andreone (@JulianAndreone) February 3, 2024
Lancer spoke to Jack Pollon after the game to shed some more light on what unfolded, saying Barnes called him a “p—y” and threatened to “slap the s–t” out of him
Barnes attempted to defend himself by claiming Lancer said “some slick s–t” before he decided to approach him, but when you consider we’re talking about an incident involving a 43-year-old man going after a high school student who rubbed him the wrong way, it’s pretty hard to spin this.