NBA player Matt Barnes has been suspended by the league for reportedly driving 95 miles to "beat the shit" out of NBA coach Derek Fisher in October, because Fisher took up a relationship with Barnes' ex-wife.
Barnes will miss two games, according to news first reported by Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, putting an apparent end to one of the more bizarre altercations in recent sports memory.
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The story starts during this year's NBA pre-season training camp, and was broken in October by the New York Post. Barnes reportedly left the Memphis Grizzlies' pre-season camp in Southern California to drive 95 miles to Los Angeles after hearing that Fisher was spending time with his ex-wife and their two sons.
“Barnes went crazy. He got in his car and went to the house and went after Fisher,” a source told the Post. “Matt then drove down there to beat the shit out of him.”
The 35-year-old Barnes played for several NBA teams before joining the Grizzlies this year. He and Fisher were teammates on the Lakers from 2010 to 2012. Fisher now coaches the New York Knicks. Gloria Govan, Barnes' former wife, is a cast member of the reality show Basketball Wives LA.
After confronting Fisher at Govan's house, a source told the Post in October, Barnes told a friend via text message that "I kicked his ass from the back yard to the front room, and spit in her face,” referencing Fisher and Govan, respectively.
Fisher reportedly left before police arrived, and the coach has not pressed charges against Barnes.
Barnes will serve his suspension during Memphis' scheduled games this Tuesday and Saturday, according to Wojnarowski, and forfeit about $64,000 in salary as a result.