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“He only had a few scratches” - Derek Fisher’s camp disputed Matt Barnes’ claim that he beat him up
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- “He only had a few scratches” - Derek Fisher’s camp disputed Matt Barnes’ claim that he beat him up
Derek Fisher played 18 years in the league. That's a crazy long time. Long enough to go through plenty of nights that went beyond the usual wear and tear. Nights when you picked up some real injuries.
So Fisher knew what those felt like. He also knew that whatever Matt Barnes put on him didn't fall into that category. At least that's what someone from his camp made clear shortly after their infamous 2015 run-in.
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"Matt came after Derek, but he only had a few scratches," the source said , per the "New York Post."
A falling out that had nothing to do with hoops
Fisher and Barnes spent a season and a half together with the Los Angeles Lakers . The starting point was 2010. The endpoint was March 2012. Back then, Fisher was traded to the Houston Rockets .
A few years later, though, they would cross paths again. They would, in fact, get into each other's hair. It had nothing to do with basketball. Gloria Govan was at the center of it.
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Barnes took a 95-mile drive
Govan was Barnes' estranged wife. Govan was also the woman Fisher had started dating. You can probably already see the problem here. And if you don't, one of the most infamous quotes an NBA player has ever given should clear it up. It came from Barnes, who once said, " Violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is ."
And violence was exactly what the now "All the Smoke" podcast host had in mind after learning about Fisher and Govan.
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Barnes was at the Memphis Grizzlies training camp in Santa Barbara. That was where he found out Fisher was at the Los Angeles house he used to share with Govan. Barnes reportedly went "crazy."
The future NBA champion reportedly got in his car. Then he drove 95 miles to "beat the s—t" out of his former Purple & Gold teammate.
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A few scratches and no charges
So what actually happened once Barnes got there? That part is a lot murkier, actually. The Post only cited a text Barnes allegedly sent afterward.
"I kicked his a— from the back yard to the front room, and spit in her face," it reportedly read.
If that's really how it went down, Fisher would have been hurting for a while. By most accounts, he wasn't. All anyone could go by was how the ex-NBA point guard looked afterward. That source mentioned a few scratches. ESPN reported that he showed no visible injuries when he returned to the New York Knicks practice. Either way, it definitely wasn't enough for Fisher to go after Barnes in any serious — and more importantly, non-violent — way.
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"Derek's not going to press charges; he's going to let it go," the source close to Derek said.
If anything, the five-time NBA champ stayed pretty composed. Facing the press a few days later, D-Fish called it a private matter and said his mind was on the game that night, adding that nothing he had gone through had anything to do with how his team would perform. He was, as he put it, "completely focused and committed to the team."
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
