Matt Barnes’ Inappropriate Encounter With Student Costs Him Kings Gig
Matt Barnes’ Inappropriate Encounter With Student Costs Him Kings Gig
Matt Barnes lost a Sacramento Kings analyst gig he had over an inappropriate encounter with a student recently.
News of Barnes no longer serving as the team’s analyst emerged early Monday.
Confirmed: Former King Matt Barnes will no longer appear on NBC Sports California (@NBCSKings) pre & postgame for Kings’ games, per a network spokesperson
First reported by @JandersonSacBee & @CarmichaelDave @CBSSacramento pic.twitter.com/Pgv5dYjepP
— Jake Gadon (@JakeGadon_TV) February 20, 2024
Understandably, many were curious about what led up to the network’s decision. Barnes has a reputation for keeping it real in his hoops analysis, as evidenced by his explanation for why no one likes Chris Paul and his story about the time he saved Skip Bayless from getting beat up.
As it turns out, Barnes was involved in a confrontation with officials and a student announcer at his kid’s high school basketball game a few weeks back.
Video of the encounter went viral not long after it happened:
Caught in 4K buddy pic.twitter.com/MLft16ocg9
— Official Kevin “NY Kn(ox)” the Second Fan Club (@KevinKnoxII) February 4, 2024
Afterwards, Barnes admitted that he didn’t handle the situation well.
“This particular incident — I will say my one mistake was putting my hand on [the student broadcaster’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,” Barnes said.
“He told me to ‘sit my ass down.’ I was just like, ‘Why do you feel comfortable to be able to tell a grown man to sit his ass down? So he and I had a little back and forth, and obviously, admitting my faults to even touch him was wrong of me.
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— Game 7 (@game7__) February 21, 2024
“But I want to make clear that the narrative of me as some guy that beats up people, I want people to know I didn’t bodyslam this kid, I didn’t chokeslam him, I didn’t do any of the sort.
“I literally put my hand on his shoulder like I was talking to one of my sons. And again, 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.”
It will be interesting to see if Barnes ultimately gets another shot as analyst somewhere else once the dust settles from this particular incident.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
