When Gilbert Arenas failed to calm Matt Barnes down before infamous Derek Fisher fight -"God sent him to me, and I am gonna deliver"

Gilbert Arenas shared a story of the Matt Barnes-Derek Fisher altercation
Gilbert Arenas shared a story of the Matt Barnes-Derek Fisher altercation.

Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas gave an interesting account of the infamous altercation between former Lakers teammates Matt Barnes and Derek Fisher. Arenas talked about how he failed to calm Barnes down before the fight.

It was a rather nasty affair between Barnes and Fisher in 2015. Barnes, who was playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, was in the process of divorcing his wife Gloria Govan.

Barnes was particularly livid when he came to learn that Fisher was at his LA home with Govan. Barnes received a call from one of his kids at the time and went over to check on the situation.

As one thing led to another, a fight eventually erupted. However, Arenas offered an interesting morsel of information before the fight broke out. Arenas recalled being on the phone with Barnes before the latter went over to confront Fischer.

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Arenas received a call from Barnes a day before the fight. Barnes spoke about being angry with Fisher being at his house with his ex-wife and talked about the need to "punch on somebody".

Arenas brushed it off, as he thought Barnes was over in Memphis for training camp. It was only later when Barnes asked him to meet up that he learned that the Grizzlies were having their training camp in Santa Barbara.

While Arenas was still processing things on call, he said:

"Wait, why is Derek Fisher there? Isn't he the coach of the Knicks?"

Matt Barnes responded:

"I don't know why that motherf***ers here. But God sent him to me, and I'm going to deliver."
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Arenas tried to defuse the situation by suggesting that it was a bad idea. Unfortunately, Arenas' efforts went in vain.

Also Read: 5 NBA players' wives and girlfriends who filed cases against their partners


What was the result of the Matt Barnes-Derek Fisher altercation?

Matt Barnes hit Derek Fisher when he confronted the latter. Although Fisher didn't have any injuries from the fight, the two were required to face each other in court in 2016.

Since then, Barnes has said that he has "buried the hatchet" with Fisher, who is still with his ex-wife. Barnes mentioned the same on "All The Smoke" podcast, saying that they came to this decision while placing an emphasis on raising ther twins right and co-parenting with Gloria Govan.

Also Read: Matt Barnes accused by ex-wife Gloria Govan of allegedly threatening her over child support

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Edited by Bhargav
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