Was Steven Adams involved in the verbal spat between Shannon Sharpe and Tee Morant? All you need to know
Memphis Grizzlies big man Steven Adams is widely regarded as one of the nicest guys in the NBA. This has made Adams a huge fan favorite across the league’s 30 fanbases. Adams is also known to be a very supportive teammate.
However, the New Zealander's support for his teammates got him briefly involved in an altercation during halftime of Friday night's game against the LA Lakers.
The altercation started when retired Hall of Fame football player Shannon Sharpe started jawing back and forth with Steven Adams’ teammate Dillon Brooks. Adams then stepped in to back up his teammate and had some strong words of his own for Sharpe. The altercation then spilled over into the crowd even more as Sharpe got involved with Ja Morant’s father, Tee Morant.
However, before Ja Morant could get too involved in the altercation, Adams opted to diffuse the situation a bit by pulling him back. The argument then continued between Sharpe, Tee Morant and other members of the Grizzlies until security split everyone up.
Following the game, Sharpe spoke to Dave McMenamin of ESPN about what caused the fight. Sharpe explained that it had to do with him telling Brooks he couldn’t guard Lakers star forward LeBron James:
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe said. "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**k’ me. I said, ‘F**k 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,” Sharpe continued.
Shannon Sharpe spent halftime in the tunnel with security before returning to his seat for the third quarter. He granted ESPN a brief interview explaining what happened with the Grizzlies on his way to his seat: https://t.co/XZNw6sQhEG
Brooks was later asked whether Sharpe should have been allowed back in his seat following the dispute. Brooks then explained that Sharpe should have been kicked out just like any other fan.
“A regular pedestrian like him? No. He should have never come back into the game, but it’s LA,” Brooks said.
Despite the initial intensity of their altercation, Shannon Sharpe and Tee Morant later made up during the third quarter.
Tee Morant and Shannon Sharpe just cleared the air during the third quarter intermission https://t.co/a6Hrg8AsH8
Tee Morant later told Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that he and Sharpe "are good" and that he has "nothing but love for him."
Tee Morant — father of Ja Morant — tells @NBAonTNT / @BleacherReport he and Shannon Sharpe “are good” and has “nothing but love for him.” Said it’s just two guys from the South talking trash and supporting their teams.
So in the end, most would agree that the altercation ended up being rather petty and silly. Overall, it could probably be chalked up to competitors getting caught up in the heat of the moment.
Fortunately for fans, the altercation didn’t take away from the excitement of the game. This came as the Lakers ended up pulling out a close 122-121 victory to snap Memphis’ 11-game winning streak.
Fans react to Steven Adams not flinching during altercation with Shannon Sharpe
Following the altercation between the Memphis Grizzlies and Shannon Sharpe, fans were quick to point out that Sharpe wanted no part of Steven Adams. They also noted that Adams didn’t even flinch as the altercation took place.
not a single person in that skirmish made Steven Adams move an inch https://t.co/WsgE2LCVd0
Many fans then responded with comments about Steven Adams' toughness. Here are a few of the top fan reactions:
twitter.com/worldwidewob/s…Shannon ain’t even look Adams way man 😂 twitter.com/worldwidewob/s…
That’s the one person Shay Shay ain’t want it with. twitter.com/WorldWideWob/s…
LOL Shannon didn’t approach Adams as the others twitter.com/WorldWideWob/s…
The hair was down..so he meant business twitter.com/worldwidewob/s…
@WorldWideWob I got mymoney on Shannon???
Yea ok buddy https://t.co/qZzmmc6HXx
Also read: LeBron James puts up a hilarious post in Shannon Sharpe's support: "If "I Wish A Muthaf#k Would" was a person!"