Matt Barnes removed from Sacramento Kings TV broadcast lineup on NBC Sports California

NBC Sports California’s pregame and postgame shows will be missing a familiar face when the Kings return from the All-Star break to play the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday at Golden 1 Center.

An NBC Sports California spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee Matt Barnes will no longer be appearing on the network. Barnes, a Sacramento native who twice played for the Kings during his 14-year NBA career, declined to comment Tuesday when contacted by The Bee.

Barnes, 43, was in his third season as a studio analyst at NBC Sports California after joining the Kings broadcast team in 2021. The change comes weeks after Barnes was seen yelling at officials and confronting a student play-by-play announcer at his sons’ high school basketball game in Los Angeles.

Barnes attended the game between Crespi Carmelite and Harvard-Westlake. The Los Angeles Times reported Barnes engaged Harvard-Westlake student announcer Jake Lancer during the school’s live stream broadcast after one of his sons was whistled for a technical foul.

Video posted to social media showed Barnes putting his right hand on Lancer’s shoulder before other adults intervened. Barnes allegedly threatened to slap Lancer.

“He said, ‘What do you think you’re looking at?’” Lancer told freelance sports reporter Jack Pollon. “And I said, ‘You’re screaming you’re a (expletive) to the refs mid game while I’m trying to announce, don’t touch me,’ and then he said, ‘I’ll slap the s--- out of you.’”

Barnes discussed the incident during a recent appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”

“I was yelling at the refs, Dan. I’ve yelled at the refs my entire college career, my 15-year NBA career,” Barnes said. “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. This particular incident — I will say my one mistake was putting my hand on (the student broadcaster’s) shoulder. A lot of people want to say I grabbed this kid or I did this — I literally put my hand on this kid’s shoulder because it was almost like I was talking to my son.

“He told me to sit my a-- down. I was just like, ‘Why do you feel comfortable to be able to tell a grown man to sit his a-- down?’ So he and I had a little back and forth, and obviously, admitting my faults to even touch him was wrong of me. But I want to make clear that the narrative of me as some guy that beats up people, I want people to know I didn’t body slam this kid. I didn’t choke slam him. I didn’t do any of the sort. I literally put my hand on his shoulder like I was talking to one of my sons. And, again, for touching him, I was wrong. But I just didn’t like the disrespect that came with the entitlement where they felt like they could say anything to me.”

Lancer denied saying anything disrespectful to Barnes following the incident, tweeting: “I want to make it very clear that I never told him to ‘shut up’ or anything close to that, he came up to me. All I wanted to do in the moment was get back to announcing the championship game.”

Barnes starred at Del Campo High School and UCLA before he was selected with the 46th overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. He played for nine teams during his NBA career, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Kings. He retired after winning an NBA championship with the Warriors in 2017.

The Street recently reported Barnes and Brian Dailey, a former Showtime Sports programming executive, are launching a production company, All the Smoke Productions (ATSP). The company is named after the “All the Smoke” podcast, which Barnes popularized alongside another former NBA player, Stephen Jackson.

All the Smoke Productions is reportedly bringing in other former NBA players and analysts, including former Kings DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Rachel Nichols.

Barnes shared that news via social media Tuesday, tweeting: “Cheers to New Beginnings.”