Former teammates Matt Barnes and Derek Fisher got into a bit of an altercation this past offseason. Fisher was reported to be romancing Barnes’ estranged wife, Gloria Govan, which prompted Barnes to drive 95 miles to “Beat the Sh-t out of him.”
Ramona Shelburne, a writer for ESPN, was told by Matt Barnes that he went to Govan’s home after being told by his 6-year-old twin sons that they felt uncomfortable. Barnes said one of his sons told him, “Mommy’s friend Derek is here.” Barnes was suspended for two games by the NBA and fined $63,000 for the altercation.
Fast forward months later and Matt Barnes played against Fisher’s Knicks this past Saturday. Barnes was fined again for $35,000 shortly after for comments regarding Derek Fisher stating, “Violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is.”
Back in the day you had to start a brawl on the court or do something worse to get a serious fine like this from the league. Suspensions have always been around to restrict players from getting into trouble, but in today’s league, it’s worse than ever. Players were only fined a couple thousands of dollars for getting into fights back in the day, but now simple hurtful words total up to a couple tens of thousands of dollars.
Moral of the story: The NBA is the softest it’s ever been.
(P.S: Follow me on twitter @KnickBulletin )
