Matt Barnes Removed from Sacramento Kings TV Coverage Following Viral Spat With High School Basketball Announcer

David Zalubowski/AP

Retired NBA player Matt Barnes will no longer cover Sacramento Kings’ games after going viral for an altercation with a student at a high school basketball game.

In early February, Barnes made headlines after getting into it with a student at his son’s game. Barnes’ son was given a technical foul at one point, and Barnes yelled expletives at the referees in frustration.

As this was going on, student announcer Jake Lancer was providing play-by-play commentary. He remarked how “ridiculous” it was that Barnes was on the court berating the officials and no one was “doing anything about it.”

Barnes then approached Lancer and put his hand on Lancer’s shoulder while talking to him. On Twitter, Barnes claimed Lancer said “some slick shit.”

Lancer, however, offered a different account of the events that night. While he was giving commentary for the game, he and Barnes made eye contact and Barnes said, “What are you looking at?” When Lancer told Barnes not to touch him and explained he was trying to announce a game while Barnes was berating the ref, Barnes simply said, “I’ll slap the shit out of you.”

Now, Barnes is out at NBC Sports California. The 43-year-old — who spent two of his 14 NBA seasons with the Kings — had been part of the network’s pregame and post-game coverage. A spokesperson informed The Sacramento Bee of the move Wednesday. Barnes declined to comment.

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