Derek Fisher remained quiet long enough.
Fisher, who was fired as head coach of the New York Knicks in February, broke his silence and addressed his dismissal Thursday in an article published on The Cauldron. He also discussed his “situation” with former teammate Matt Barnes, which has dominated NBA headlines in recent months.
Fisher and Barnes landed in the news in October after Barnes allegedly drove to Los Angeles to confront the then-Knicks coach about dating his estranged wife, Gloria Govan. Punches apparently flew, though, as Fisher explains, and it wasn’t exactly a one-on-one fight.
“I don’t know what was going through Matt’s mind that day in October when he showed up unannounced at Gloria’s house, and started swinging,” Fisher wrote in the article published Thursday. “I didn’t retaliate. No one who was there did anything but try to get him to calm down, particularly because Matt and Gloria’s children were present. There was no fight.
“That’s it. There’s nothing more to what happened than that.”
Fisher also cleared the air on his relationship with Barnes — or lack thereof — by explaining the two weren’t friends and had no mutual friends. They were teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2010-11 season and for a couple of months during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign. That’s it, according to Fisher, who also shed light on his relationship with Govan.
“When Gloria and I started dating, she and Matt had already been separated and living apart for more than a year. Same thing for me. My wife and I were long separated; she was in L.A., I was in New York,” Fisher wrote. “Matt and Gloria were not trying to work things out, and I certainly wasn’t seeing her behind Matt’s back or in secret. The relationship wasn’t something I was trying to publicize, but it also wasn’t something I was trying to hide, either. There was no reason to.”
Fisher spoke highly of Govan in his article, referring to her as a “strong, independent woman and mother.” We’ll see what the future holds, but it’s been an interesting love triangle to say the least.
Thumbnail photo via Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports Images
