Want to know what Matt Barnes thinks about Derek Fisher? Just ask him. Ever since the two former teammates reportedly got into a fight back in October 2015 because Fisher started dating Barnes’ ex Gloria Govan, the NBA free agent-to-be has been more than happy to discuss the situation. He’s addressed it in social media posts. He’s spoken about it with TMZ cameramen. He’s even talked about it with NBA reporters and gotten fined thousands of dollars for keeping it a little bit too real.
But Barnes has never really sat down for a lengthy interview to talk about exactly what happened with Fisher. Until now. He recently agreed to do an interview with 'Hollywood Unlocked Uncensored,' a new radio show hosted by Love & Hip Hop Hollywood star/TheHollywoodUnlocked.com founder Jason Lee, Melyssa Ford, and DoBoy. The three peppered Barnes with question after question about the Fisher situation, and, to Barnes’ credit, he didn’t back down from any of them. His answers were pretty thoughtful and showed there was more to the situation than just what was originally reported.
You can listen to Barnes discuss the Fisher situation in the video at the top of this post (the discussion begins at around 45:30 and ends at 51:30—and just a warning, there is a lot of NSFW language used throughout the interview). We have also included some of Barnes' best quotes from the interview below:
On how Barnes wishes Fisher and Govan had told him they were in a relationship prior to him finding out about it from one of his sons:
First of all, it’s a fucked-up situation. Don’t get that twisted. It was a fucked-up situation. But I’m so real, I told my ex, I’m like, ‘Yo, you can’t help who you fall in love with, but you could handle it in a mature way.’ If you would have came to me like a woman like, ‘Yo, check this out. Unfortunately, this happened.’ Or if he would have came to me as a man like, ‘Yo, check this out. Unfortunately, this happened.’…If you would have handled it the right way, I would have been cool. I wouldn’t have liked it, but I wouldn’t have gotten mad.
On what went through Barnes' head when he first found out Fisher and Govan were dating:
To be honest with you, the first thing that went through my head is, ‘This motherfucker is around my kids.’ That’s first and foremost. Like, why, if I don’t even know about this shit first of all, how are you in the house that I pay for around my children? As a man, I would feel messed up about that. As a man, like, I’m not putting all the blame on her. I’m not putting all the blame on him. I think it’s both of them.
On how Barnes' fight with Fisher could have been worse:
All I’m gonna say is he’s lucky there was a lot of people there grabbing me the whole time or it would have been a lot worse. But I think I got my point across.
On how Barnes' fight with Fisher could have been much worse:
If I wasn’t an athlete and some shit like that went down, it wouldn’t have just been a fight. People have lost their lives over stuff like that. Honestly. Come on, man. So I always got to think that way. Plus, on top of my career, I got kids now, so it’s just, like, you’re not going to hype me up into doing some stupid shit and getting me to go to jail. I may hit jail for a night for a fight, but at the next level, I’m not playing that game.
On what Barnes thinks about Fisher and Govan’s relationship now:
They’re still together…I want her to be happy. I know as long as he treats my kids right is my first priority, and I ask my kids daily now that I know he’s around like, ‘What’s up?’ And [they’re like], ‘We love him.’...I check with that. As long as that’s the case and my kids are going to be happy and all right, that’s my only concern.
Elsewhere in the interview, Barnes also addresses his rift with Rihanna and talks about where he wants to play next season. Check out the full interview to hear more.
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