Former NBA champion Matt Barnes will no longer appear on NBC Sports California, a network spokesperson told the Sacramento Bee, a move that comes weeks after he yelled at officials and was seen confronting a student broadcaster during a high school boys’ basketball game.
Barnes, who played for the Kings from 2004-05 and again from 2016-17, has appeared on the pre-and postgame broadcasts for the Sacramento Kings since 2021.
The network spokesperson did not share why it parted ways with the 43-year-old Barnes, who has yet to publicly address the situation.
Barnes made headlines earlier this month when he was seen confronting a Harvard-Westlake student broadcaster, Jake Lancer, during a high school basketball game at Encino Crespi, the team his 15-year-old twin sons, Carter and Isaiah Barnes, play for.
He reportedly yelled at an official when one of his twin sons was called for a technical foul, and a now-viral video showed the former NBA player putting his right hand on the shoulder of Lancer.
The two reportedly exchanged words before adults intervened.
Barnes spoke about the incident on Feb. 13 during an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”
“I was yelling at the refs, Dan,” he said. “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 one 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.”
Lancer addressed the situation in a post on X, writing: “Last comment on the situation last night: I want to make it very clear that I never told [Barnes] to ‘shut up’ or anything close to that, he came up to me. All I wanted to do in the moment was get back to announcing the championship game.”
Harvard-Westlake praised Lancer for how he handled the moment in a separate post on X.
“Harvard-Westlake is proud of Jake Lancer and the poise he showed on [Feb. 2] under unusual circumstances. Jake’s calm demeanor and professional focus are unparalleled in high school journalism and we are honored he is our lead commentator on HWTV.”
Barnes shares the twins with his ex-wife, Gloria Govan, who married Barnes’ former Lakers teammate, Derek Fisher, in July 2021.
Fisher is Carter and Isaiah’s coach at Crespi.
Barners and Fisher have a history off of the court.
The two were previously involved in a physical altercation, with The Post exclusively reporting in 2015 that Barnes — who was on the Grizzlies at the time — abruptly exited the team’s California training camp to drive 95 miles to “beat the s–t” out of Fisher after learning about his romance with Govan.
Barnes said in 2021 that he and Fisher “buried the hatchet,” and are focused on co-parenting the twins.
Barnes won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2017.
After he retired in 2017, Barnes joined ESPN as an NBA analyst before taking his talents to Showtime, where he co-hosts the popular podcast “ALL THE SMOKE” with former NBA player Stephen Jackson.
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