Matt Barnes is setting the record straight after reports surfaced alleging he made a special trip to the house of his ex-wife, Gloria Govan, to fight New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher. According to ESPN, Barnes initially left his home in Marina del Rey around 10 p.m. Saturday, when he got an alarming text from his son Carter.
“I’m like, first of all, why are you still up? It’s like 10 o’clock at night,” Barnes said. “So I text back, ‘I love you and I miss you too.’ Then I FaceTimed him. I’m just like, ‘Hey, what’s up buddy?’ . . . Now, Carter is like the rambunctious one. 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.’ . . . This wasn’t a phone call. We were on FaceTime. I could see him and the look on his face.”
The power forward claims that he also spoke to his son Isaiah and was concerned that his boys were uncomfortable that another man was at Govan’s home. So, naturally, he decided to drop in to check in on the situation. Only, things escalated from there. Lt. Joe Hoffman of the Redondo Beach Police Department said officers responded to an incident involving Barnes, Fisher and Govan but that no charges would be filed.
“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.” Prior to the altercation, Barnes said, “We were close. We were friends . . . Some things have happened to change that. It is what it is.” As you may recall, the duo played together with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2010 to 2012.
On Thurs., Oct. 8, Fisher told reporters that he had spoken to team president Phil Jackson about the incident but declined to provide details surrounding the discussion. When asked about his relationship with Barnes, Fisher said, “In terms of distraction and how players feel about distraction, et cetera, we’ll see how it goes for our team … It’s unfortunate. But it is what it is at this point.”
Boys will be boys.
