Friday night’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena featured an altercation between some players and family members and a fan in attendance. The fan? Shannon Sharpe.
That’s right, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and co-host of FS1’s Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, got into it with some of the Grizzlies. Sharpe and Memphis guard Dillon Brooks were having what certainly looked like an unpleasant conversation from opposite sides of the floor. That prompted some of the Grizzlies — including Steven Adams and Ja Morant — to head over towards Sharpe. As Sharpe was being pulled away, Ja’s father, Tee Morant, came over and continued the argument.
ESPN video of Shannon and the Grizz + Tee Morant pic.twitter.com/wSbKc1jLz1
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) January 21, 2023
And while ESPN’s coverage of the incident indicated that things were tense, video from another angle caputred by Ben Golliver of The Washington Post showed that things were even worse than they appeared on the broadcast.
Tee Morant and Shannon Sharpe have to be separated at halftime of Lakers vs. Grizzlies pic.twitter.com/eh01loYXKJ
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 21, 2023
More of the verbal confrontation between Tee Morant & Shannon Sharpe pic.twitter.com/6f3uPRqVQE
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 21, 2023
Rob Fischer, the sideline reporter for the Grizzlies on Bally Sports, initially reported that “Sharpe was just escorted out of building.”
Shannon Sharpe was just escorted out of building after Steven Adams, Ja, and Tee Morant all went after the football hall of Famer. It was a bizarre scene as Grizz security and referees were separating the Grizzlies and Sharpe https://t.co/kQCm2JL3AT
— Rob Fischer (@thefishnation) January 21, 2023
He later reported that Sharpe had returned to his seat. When the chatter with Brooks continued, the referees gave Sharpe a stern warning.
Shannon Sharpe has returned to his seat for the second half. The fracas started with Dillon Brooks and Sharpe having words. Then Ja got involved and the others followed. Brooks and Sharpe have continued yapping and referee Zach Zarba just warned Sharpe that he’ll throw him out! https://t.co/k1hZSF5mNw
— Rob Fischer (@thefishnation) January 21, 2023
So, what caused the fight? Sharpe offered his end of the story to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Shannon Sharpe spent halftime in the tunnel with security before returning to his seat for the third quarter. He granted ESPN a brief interview explaining what happened with the Grizzlies on his way to his seat: pic.twitter.com/XZNw6sQhEG
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 21, 2023
[CJ Fogler on Twitter]
