NBC Sports Fires NBA Analyst Matt Barnes After Viral Beef With High-Schooler

Former NBA player Matt Barnes has been axed as an on-air TV analyst for Sacramento Kings games after he reportedly yelled at a student broadcaster and officials at his son’s high-school basketball game. NBC California confirmed Barnes’ removal to The Sacramento Bee, offering no further comment. Barnes drew headlines earlier this month when he allegedly yelled expletives at the refs officiating his son’s basketball game, and viral video showed him subsequently putting his hands on the rival school’s student announcer before other parents intervened. That student later alleged that Barnes threatened to “slap the shit out of” him. Barnes defended his actions on The Dan LeBatard Show podcast: “A lot of people want to say I grabbed this kid or I did this,” he explained. “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 ass down. I was just like, ‘Why do you feel comfortable to be able to tell a grown man to sit his ass down?’ So he and I had a little back and forth.”