Kings broadcast fires former player after incident with high school announcer

Barnes was a studio analyst for the Kings pregame and postgame shows for the past three seasons, but his actions at a high school game got him fired.

Earlier this month, Barnes was watching his son play for Crespi Carmelite High School in a game against Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles. But when his son received a technical foul, Barnes started berating the referees - and the high school senior broadcasting the game.

Barnes put his hand on the shoulder of student broadcaster Jake Lancer and threatened to "slap the s--- out of him." Later, Barnes went on the Dan LeBatard Show to defend his actions, and said his "one mistake" was putting his hands on the student. Barnes also claimed Lancer told him to "sit my a-- down" and "said some slick stuff" to him. He also said he was "well within my rights" to walk onto the court and yell at the referees, as a parent, because the game had a foul disparity.

Unfortunately for Barnes, he apparently didn't realize that since the game was being broadcast, there was a clear record of what Lancer said. And that did not correspond to Barnes' fabricated account.

"Matt Barnes is now out on the floor...just yelling 'You are an expletive at the ref,'" Lancer said in his commentary. "I mean, that's ridiculous. He's out on the floor right now, and no one's doing anything about it. I guess he's an NBA player, but I mean..."

That's a far cry from "Sit your a-- down." Leaving aside the inappropriateness of walking on the court and cursing out a high school ref, when he's not even a coach of the team, it's especially bad that Barnes went on a huge podcast and lied about a high school student.

Crespi High is coached by Barnes' former teammate Derek Fisher, who is married to Barnes' ex-wife Gloria Govan. Barnes drove to Govan's house in an attempt to fight Fisher during training camp in 2015, when Fisher was coaching the New York Knicks and Barnes was on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Barnes may be an entertaining podcaster, but these actions were clearly unacceptable. The only real surprise is that it took the Kings this long to dismiss him. Or that this wasn't a bigger deal right after it happened.