Pro Football Hall of Famer and Fox Sports commentator Shannon Sharpe was involved in a verbal altercation Saturday with players on the Memphis Grizzlies.
Sharpe was sitting courtside for the Grizzlies’ game against the Los Angeles Lakers when the altercation occurred just after the second quarter ended, according to ESPN.
Shannon Sharpe wanted smoke with the Memphis Grizzlies whole team and Ja Morant’s dad‼️😳 pic.twitter.com/5QpG8Ps6o3
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) January 21, 2023
Referees and security were forced to get between Sharpe and Grizzlies players, ESPN reported. The players involved include Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant, and Morant’s dad Tee Morant.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe said during halftime, according to ESPN. “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,” Sharpe said, according to ESPN. “He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems.”
Sharpe is known for his unwavering support of Lakers forward LeBron James. James stuck up for Sharpe after the game.(RELATED: Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe Get Into Explosive Argument After Shannon Demanded Skip Delete His Tweet)
“I mean, I ride with Shannon for 365 days, 366 on a leap year, 24/7,” James said, according to ESPN. “So, that’s my guy. So I’ll always have his back, and he’s got mine. He can talk with the best of them, for sure.”
“Shannon didn’t do anything,” Ja Morant’s father Tee said, per ESPN. “Hey, he was doing like we do in South Carolina. We talk our s—.”
After the game, Brooks was asked whether Sharpe should have been allowed to stay.
“A regular pedestrian like him? No,” Brooks said, ESPN reported. “He should have never come back in the game. But this is L.A.”
The Grizzlies fell to the Lakers 122-121, snapping an 11-game winning streak.