Seven years after his infamous fight with former teammate Derek Fisher, Matt Barnes shares some insight into how far he traveled before fists were thrown.
Barnes and Fisher seemed cordial with each other between 2010 and 2012 when they played together for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, their dynamic changed in 2015 when Fisher began dating Barnes’ ex-wife, Gloria Govan, without Barnes’ knowledge.
In 2015, Fisher coached for the New York Knicks, while Barnes played for the Memphis Grizzlies. Barnes was participating in the Grizzlies training camp, which was taking place in California when he received a late-night call from one of his and Govan’s twin sons.
His son called his father to tell him Fisher was in his house. Immediately, Barnes hopped in his car to confront his former teammate, and around 11:45 pm, he arrived and did just that. Reports vary on what happened after the fact, but punches were thrown.
Fisher didn’t press charges. Barnes is adamant that his problem wasn’t with Fisher dating his ex-wife but that Fisher didn’t tell him, and his sons seemed uncomfortable with his presence.
News of the altercation blew up, and rumors ran rampant. The biggest rumor was that Barnes drove anywhere between 20 to 30 hours to fight Fisher. The tale got so big that even Kanye “Ye” West rapped about it in his song “30 Hours” from his “The Life of Pablo” album. In the song, he says, “Now I’m ’bout to drive 90 miles like Matt Barnes to kill… 30 hours,” and “I’m about to drive 90/ 90 miles like Matt Barnes just to whoop a n—a a—.”
In a collaboration episode between his and Stephen Jackson’s “All the Smoke” podcast and “The Pivot Podcast,” Barnes finally put the tale to rest.
It all started when Channing Crowder asked the question many fans have wanted to know for years, “How in the f—k you drive for twenty hours mad?”
Barnes came clean, referring to that part of the story as an “urban legend” sensationalized by the Kanye lyric. “I really only drove 15 minutes,” Barnes said.
Crowder said that he knew “lightskin fellas” couldn’t stay angry for that long. Barnes called it a “quick round trip” before revealing he was back home “firing one up in like 45 minutes.”
Fans were relieved that Barnes put the rumors to bed. One fan wrote, “Finally cause d—n I thought Brodie took a real TRIP to get Fish a-s,” and, “They been hypin that “20hr drive” for years too..bruh jus spun tha block.” Some people just couldn’t let the rumor go, as one fan said, “naw i don’t want to hear it, this myth has NOT been busted, he drove 20 hours thru the desert, thru snow, in a rain storm on one tank of gas.”
naw i dont want to hear it, this myth has NOT been busted, he drove 20 hours thru the desert, thru snow, in a rain storm on 1 tank of gas https://t.co/AhRi7R36Vg
— Mahnee Tsunami (@So_Mene_Choices) November 17, 2023
Barnes had debunked the story multiple times, including when he appeared on the “Charges with Rex Chapman” podcast in 2021. During that podcast, he also said that he and Fisher have put the past behind them.
They had to as Fisher and Govan ended up getting married, which means that his former teammate is now the stepfather to his twin sons. Barnes told Chapman, “To me, it’s about raising these twins the best we possibly can and co-parenting.” He said that he and Fisher “are cool,” and they have been to each other’s houses for the twins’ birthdays.
