There was chaos at Crypto.Com Arena on Saturday afternoon [AEDT] as Fox Sports character and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe sparked a heated altercation with a number of Memphis Grizzlies gamers.
Sharpe needed to be escorted from the ground by safety and spent halftime inside the sector’s tunnel earlier than re-emerging to his seat within the third quarter of Memphis’ sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Watch a mean of 9 LIVE NBA Regular Season video games per week on ESPN on Kayo Sports on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The altercation came about proper after the halftime buzzer, with the TV character claiming a verbal jab directed at Dillon Brooks was behind the chaotic scenes.
“They didn’t want this smoke,” Sharpe mentioned to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“They do all that 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 didn’t want no problems. But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Sharpe was seen yelling at Grizzlies star Ja Morant earlier than Kiwi teammate Steven Adams stepped in and exchanged phrases with the previous NFL participant.
Tensions solely continued to boil over as Morant’s father Tee acquired concerned, with the 2 feuding events separated.
Sharpe reportedly yelled “I bet you won’t” in Tee Morant’s route as he was pulled away.
Speaking in broadcast after halftime, Mark Jackson mentioned the altercation was proof of simply how shut the Grizzlies as a group are, even when it was “nothing” in his opinion.
“You see Steven Adams comes over to protect his guy along with the supporting cast and then Shannon Sharpe [is] still talking and Tee Morant, Ja Morant’s dad comes over,” Jackson mentioned.
“I had an opportunity to talk to Tee Morant and he said, ‘My blood pressure didn’t go up a bit, nothing but love and respect for Shannon Sharpe. Just a bunch of guys talking a bunch of trash’.
“The good thing you see is everyone is in building still in their seat but we have to be better collectively. I’ll tell you what, it showed you the togetherness of the Memphis Grizzlies. There was a bunch of guys who had nothing to do with it but wasn’t going to sit back and watch. Even though it was nothing, they did nothing together.”
Grizzlies reporter Damichael Cole described it as “absolute madness” whereas NBA author Sami Amico referred to as it “wild”.
Tee Morant and Sharpe have been later captured making up on the court docket, placing any potential dangerous blood from the state of affairs apart.
Brooks although was quoted telling reporters post-game that Sharpe shouldn’t have been allowed again within the area.
“A regular pedestrian like him? No. He shouldn’t have ever came back in the game. But it’s LA,” he mentioned.
Originally revealed as ‘Absolute madness’ as TV character, Kiwi Steven Adams in ‘wild’ on-court NBA altercation
