Matt Barnes has given his side of the Derek Fisher story, and it’s quite different from what has been reported.
Barnes reportedly drove 95 miles to ex Gloria Govan’s house last Saturday to confront Derek Fisher over his relationship with her, and the two had a physical confrontation. A further report said that the altercation only ended when one of Barnes’s children begged them to stop. Barnes, however, has a largely different account.
Barnes told ESPN that he received a text from his son Carter that “concerned him,” and a brief FaceTime session spurred him to action:
“I’m like, first of all, why are you still up? It’s like 10 o’clock at night,” Barnes said. “So I text back, ‘I love you and I miss you too.’ Then I FaceTimed him. I’m just like, ‘Hey, what’s up buddy?'”
“Now, Carter is like the rambunctious one. He’s always jumping off the walls. And when I saw his face, he was just sitting there, and I knew something was wrong. I was like, ‘What’s wrong, Carter?’ and he shook his head, ‘No.’ Then he lays his head down on the couch, puts a pillow in front of his face and says, ‘Mommy’s friend Derek is here.’
“This wasn’t a phone call. We were on FaceTime. I could see him and the look on his face.”
Barnes said he also spoke to his other son, Isaiah, and was concerned that his boys were uncomfortable that another man was at the home of his ex-wife, Gloria Govan, so he drove there to check on the situation. The situation escalated from there, Barnes said, though he declined to comment on specifics of the altercation because of potential litigation.
Barnes went on to claim that the reports stating that he drove 95 miles to confront Fisher were inaccurate, stating he was already in Los Angeles and lived only 15 minutes away, and simply drove over to make sure his kids were alright.
Barnes is the first person involved to openly speak out about what happened in any real detail, and his story does not go along with what has been reported for the past week. We’ll see if anyone else steps forward to back this up or shoot it down.
