Source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty
This time, the legendary tight end was at the
Memphis Grizzlies vs.
Los Angeles Lakers game and may have trashed talked a bit too much. Whatever he said caught the ear of Grizzlies players –including Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams,
Ja Morant, and Morant’s father, Tee Morant– as the second quarter came to an end.
Sharpe can be seen on the court yelling passionately at the Grizzlies players, who then run over to confront him before team staff and security intervene to make sure the competitiveness doesn’t turn physically violent.
Sharpe is a huge fan of James’ so his passion for any team the King goes against is understood. The
Fox Sports analyst was escorted by security through the tunnel, where he stayed in a hallway in the depths of the arena. However, he was allowed to return to his courtside seat once the third quarter commenced.
On his walk back to his seat, Sharpe gave a brief interview to
ESPN on the heated exchange.
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“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe told ESPN staff writer 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.”
Thankfully cooler heads prevailed, as he and Tee Morant peaced it up with a hug and handshake at the end of the third quarter, and once again at the end of the game, where the Lakers squeaked out a 122-121 victory.
“Shannon didn’t do anything,” Tee Morant told ESPN. “Hey, he was doing like we do in South Carolina. We talk our sh-t. … South Carolina, stand up!”
James was asked about the minor altercation after the game and made it clear he’s got Sharpe’s back.
“I mean, I ride with Shannon for 365 days, 366 on a leap year, 24/7,” James said. “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.”
See how Twitter reacted to the back-and-forth below.
