No, for real, Matt Barnes would like to fight Serge Ibaka
As you’ve probably gathered over the course of his 12-year NBA career, Matt Barnes is pretty comfortable saying and doing exactly what he wants. He’s proven time and again that he’s not especially interested in pulling punches, speaking softly or using euphemisms — like famed truth-teller Colin Quinn, he really doesn’t give a care — and the 35-year-old swingman showed no indication of slowing down during a Tuesday visit to ESPN’s “SportsNation.”
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Host Michelle Beadle asked Barnes — who spent the last three seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets and redirected to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he’ll renew acquaintances with respected combatant Zach Randolph — to explain his beef with Serge Ibaka, the Oklahoma City Thunder big man with whom he tussled back in the fall of 2013. Barnes laid out his distaste for the Congolese shot-blocker in no uncertain terms:
“Me and Serge could fight right now if he was here,” Barnes said. “I just don’t like him. He’s always — he’s got that aura about him that he’s the toughest guy on the planet. He’s not. You know, whether that’s on the court or off the court.”
(Here’s where we remind you that Ibaka is the third-youngest of 18 children, that he grew up in Brazzaville during the Second Congo War, and spent nearly four years living in a town with no electricity or running water. This, perhaps, is why he’s not super scared when someone gets in his face on a basketball court.)
Asked whether he himself has that same “aura,” Barnes calmly responded, “I mean, we can see. We can see. I don’t have a problem talking about it.”
“My main thing with the NBA is, I definitely don’t want to fight, people don’t want to fight,” Barnes added. “But if I do get in one, they just have to swing first, because the NBA’s going to try to bury me if I swing first.” (Barnes has said in the past that he believes the NBA targets him more than other players when it comes to disciplinary actions; he’s received an estimated $205,000 in fines, and lost out on game checks for five suspensions, over the past dozen years.)
Whether or not you agree with Barnes’ assertion about Ibaka’s toughness — one would suspect his former teammate, Blake Griffin, has some choice thoughts on the matter — you at least have to give him points for consistency in his beliefs and his messaging surrounding them. Look no further than this spring’s feature by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard for confirmation that Barnes’ tune didn’t change just because he was on TV:
On the subject of playing dirty, Barnes says there are, “only a handful of people in the NBA who would really fight.” Among those, Barnes says he fears none, but there are some he’s preferred to avoid over the years. Like Ron Artest. “Ron’s dope, but he had a scary side,” says Barnes of his former Lakers teammate. “Like if I had to fight him, it might not end. Because we might just keep fighting.”
Serge Ibaka is not on that list. In November of 2013, during a game in LA, Ibaka pushed Blake Griffin as he tried to put up a shot. Barnes raced over, Ibaka cocked a fist, and teammates restrained the pair. Barnes was not impressed. “He just thinks he’s the toughest guy on earth and I don’t see it,” Barnes says. “We can fight on the court or after the game. To me it doesn’t matter. But you’re not going to continue to punch Blake in the balls, or throw elbows, or push me…I’m not having none of that s—. When I put him in his place, not only fans but guys on other teams were happy. They’d be coming up, saying, ‘I hate that f—ing guy.’”
Ibaka, for his part, seemed pretty amused by Barnes’ comments, suggesting that a potential square-off between the two NBA vets could take place in the Octagon:
@danawhite @ufc are you interested? LOL https://t.co/tgXNbDxBPq
— Serge Ibaka (@sergeibaka9) July 21, 2015
The UFC has yet to take Ibaka up on that offer, which I’m sure is just fine by the NBA, which would like Ibaka to be focused more on rehabilitating after knee surgery and getting ready for the league’s approaching trip to Africa than on working on his dirty boxing in preparation for a bout with Barnes. I’d imagine Barnes is fine with it, too; he probably won’t mind waiting until the first time the Grizz and Thunder lock horns next season to make sure Ibaka knows exactly how he feels.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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