He wasn’t from the Pistons, but he carried a bad boy image in the league. Yes, the fan bases of opposing teams were not very kind to the former NBA star, Matt Barnes. Blame his own tenacious and aggressive approach in the game and no one else. But, it’s only natural for him to not want the heat from any opposing fan base to reach his kids.

Appearing on Back on Figg Clips, Barnes revealed Utah Jazz, OKC, and Boston Celtics among some of the teams that had the most aggressive fan bases. And he admitted he loved doing what he did, going into a hostile environment. However, his twin sons would get worried why the crowd would boo their father when his name got announced.

The 2017 NBA champ had no option but to use his sons’ favorite sport, wrestling, as a metaphor to calm down their concerns. “I told them, ‘Daddy is the bad guy. Daddy’s The Undertaker … And the person I’m guarding… they’re all Hulk Hogan. So daddy’s job… to take down the superstar,'” Barnes recalled on the show.

He further mentioned that the conversation actually worked for his sons, who were 4-5 years old, at the time.  While there is no denying that NBA fans are ruthless, Barnes had a reputation of his own with opposing teams.

Even he admitted on Back on Gigg Clips, “I was the one people hated to play against. But loved to have on the team.” It would only be natural for the fanbase of teams to be galled towards the NBA star. And his confrontations with other NBA stars like Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher did him no good in this regard. And just in case if you expect that Barnes no longer gets in trouble for his approach toward the game, you could not be more wrong.

Why did Matt Barnes get dropped as the Sacramento Kings’ studio analyst?

For those who are unaware, the former NBA star held the job for three years. And it took him just three weeks to lose it in February this year. Yes, the decision by NBC Sports California came after three weeks of Barnes yelling at officials but more seriously, confronting a student broadcaster during a high school game. It all started with an official calling a technical foul on one of his twin sons, playing for Encino Crespi.

While the 44-year-old got into an argument with officials, a video also showed him putting his right hand on the aforementioned student’s shoulder. The situation escalated to the ex-NBA star exchanging words with him, only to be resolved after others got involved. And thus came the report by Sacramento Bee that the ex-Lakers star will no longer work as Kings’ analyst. During a subsequent appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show, Matt Barnes admitted that putting the hand on the shoulder of the student broadcaster was his only mistake.

“I’ve yelled at the refs my entire college career, my 15-year NBA career. I coach AAU in the summertime, I have high school boys, and I have a 5-year-old coming down the pipeline, so I’m going to be doing a lot of yelling at the refs,” he said of the rest of the incident. Saving his sons from the exposure to fan bases’ aggression to getting aggressive for his sons. A lot has changed, but Matt Barnes, not so much.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.