LOS ANGELES — Fox Sports personality and Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe had to be escorted from the Crypto.com Arena floor Friday night after an altercation with several Memphis Grizzlies players.
The altercation happened shortly after the halftime buzzer when Sharpe yelled at Ja Morant after the final possession of the first half. As Morant was walking off the court toward the locker room, he paused and walked in the direction of Sharpe at his courtside seat.
Before Morant could get any closer, teammate Steven Adams stepped in front of him and approached Sharpe.
Others, including Morant's father Tee Morant, then got involved as Crypto.com security separated the crowd.
"I bet you won't!" Sharpe yelled at Tee Morant as the two were pulled away from each other.
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Sharpe and Tee Morant were both back in their seats for the second half.
Tee Morant told TNT and Bleacher Report that things "are good" between him and Sharpe and dismissed the altercation as trash talk.
The sequence started when Dillon Brooks and LeBron James were battling for position while James was posting Brooks up in front of Sharpe's seat. After the possession, Brooks looked in Sharpe's direction, and the two had words.
The talking continued throughout the final Grizzlies possession, when Morant and Adams got involved.
"They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain't about all that jockeying," Sharpe said to ESPN.
Sharpe and Tee Morant were later seen embracing.
The Lakers snapped the Grizzlies' 11-game winning streak with a dramatic 122-121 victory, much to Sharpe's delight.
"Shannon didn’t do anything. Hey, he was doing like we do in South Carolina: We talk our (expletive)," Tee Morant told ESPN after the game. "South Carolina, stand up!" he added.
The Grizzlies were clearly not happy with Sharpe – Brooks said he "should never have came back in the game" – but they did not speak about the incident at length.
James, who continues to move closer to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring mark, said Sharpe is his "guy."
"I ride with Shannon 365 days – 366 on a leap year – 24/7," James said. "That's my guy. I'll always have his back and he's got mine. He can talk with the best of them, for sure."
Contributing: Jace Evans
