Friday night’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers included an absolutely bizarre incident between some of the Grizzlies and Shannon Sharpe, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and FS1 host who was in attendance.
The altercation started with Sharpe and Memphis guard Dillon Brooks yelling at each other from across the court. After that, Brooks’ teammates, Ja Morant and Steven Adams, went over toward Sharpe, who was standing in front of his courtside seat. Other people, including Ja’s father, Tee Morant, came over and he continued the argument with Sharpe as he was being escorted away.
ESPN video of Shannon and the Grizz + Tee Morant pic.twitter.com/wSbKc1jLz1
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) January 21, 2023
When Sharpe returned to his seat in the second half, the incident seemed to be smoothed over. Only, it wasn’t — at least not to the liking of the referees. Rob Fischer, the Grizzlies sideline reporter, reported that the talking between Sharpe and Brooks continued to a point where referee Zach Zarba warned Sharpe that he’d be ejected from the game if it continued.
So, what started it all? Well, thanks to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, we have Sharpe’s side of the story — and it’s a doozy.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave. They do all the talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F—‘ me. I said, ‘F— you back. He started to come at me and I said, ‘you don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously don’t want no problems. But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Shannon Sharpe spent halftime in the tunnel with security before returning to his seat for the third quarter. He granted ESPN a brief interview explaining what happened with the Grizzlies on his way to his seat: pic.twitter.com/XZNw6sQhEG
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 21, 2023
This drew a lot of reactions from basketball fans noted. A few noted that Sharpe conveniently (and wisely) left Adams out of his conversation with McMenamin.
Notice he left out Steven Adams 💀 https://t.co/hKf9SZTgFd
— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) January 21, 2023
It’s not every day a 54 year old guy in the media wants to fight a 26 year old player. (Smart move avoiding Steven Adams.) https://t.co/MOqBvjOFzv
— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) January 21, 2023
Uncle Shannon wanted smoke with everybody* 😂😂😂
(Everybody except Steven Adams, which, I mean, I don’t blame ya Unc) https://t.co/U3zefb4MR6
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) January 21, 2023
not a mention of steven adams lol https://t.co/lEVRMBNkmD
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) January 21, 2023
Steven Adams’ name is nowhere to be found amongst this list of names “not wanting smoke or problems” https://t.co/F752V4QXUJ
— Michael Eaves (@michaeleaves) January 21, 2023
More comments, though, were highly critical of Sharpe’s behavior.
Shannon Sharpe has now been involved in two manufactured incidents in the past few weeks (the fake fight with Skip being the first). Ratings for that show must be in the toilet. https://t.co/nTMZzaFtcV
— Steve Berman (@BASportsGuy) January 21, 2023
Why
Did
They
Let
Him
Go
Back
To
His
Seat
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) January 21, 2023
We live in a simulation https://t.co/SKfPbVA4Ku
— JACK SETTLEMAN (@jacksettleman) January 21, 2023
Shannon’s a fool. It was a joke how he was acting. Dare I say, #FakeToughGuy https://t.co/dGxa7e2dGs
— Rob Fischer (@thefishnation) January 21, 2023
this feels a lot like a WWE promo. like, what???? lol https://t.co/zYJ44eRjXi
— Ashley Nicole Moss (@AshNicoleMoss) January 21, 2023
Spectrum LA’s Nikki Kay later tweeted video of Sharpe and Tee Morant making up. So, at least in regards to Morant, Sharpe was right. He really didn’t want any problems.
[CJ Folger on Twitter, Dave McMenamin on Twitter]
