It’s been over a week since Matt Barnes was involved in an apparent confrontation with a student broadcaster.
The incident occurred during a high school basketball game between Harvard-Westlake Wolverines and Crespi Carmelite. While the circumstances of the altercation have remained unclear, a video surfaced showing Barnes with his hand on the shoulder of a student broadcaster, who the Los Angeles Times later identified as Jake Lancer.
According to the Times, Barnes — whose son plays for Crespi Carmelite — “started engaging student announcer Jake Lancer during the school’s live stream broadcast by putting his hands on Lancer to get his attention, briefly delaying the game.”
Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Tuesday, the former NBA forward shared his side of the story for the first time.
“I was yelling at the refs, Dan. 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 five-year-old coming down the pipeline. So I’m going to be doing a lot of yelling at the refs,” Barnes said. “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.
“He told me to ‘sit my a** down.’ I was just like, ‘Why do you feel comfortable to be able to tell a grown man to sit his a** down? So he and I had a little back and forth, and obviously, admitting my faults to even touch him was wrong of me. 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.”
Barnes stated that a female fan in the stands had flipped him off while shouting expletives at him. For what it’s worth, at least one person has provided video evidence that seemingly refutes that Lancer had said anything to Barnes, disrespectful or otherwise.
This is blatant disinformation. Jake Lancer is one of the most professional people I’ve ever worked with in broadcast or journalism. He did not say “shut up.” Here are videos of what he said immediately before and after the altercation. @Tarek_Fattal @latsondheimer https://t.co/QXwlfP0cOU pic.twitter.com/OUSedsNEEX
— Julian Andreone (@JulianAndreone) February 3, 2024
If Lancer didn’t say anything to Barnes, it’s unclear why the former 43-year-old confronted him in the manner that he did. Regardless of why it transpired, it’s clear that Lancer didn’t view the interaction as the fatherly conversation that the All The Smoke co-host portrayed during his appearance on Tuesday on the Le Batard Show.
“We live in a world where perception is reality and if the narrative fits. And I am someone who has had a background of handling business,” Barnes said. “I didn’t want this to get blown out of proportion.”
