What happened between Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies when they played the Lakers this season?

Following a verbal dispute two months ago, there’s been quite a bit reported about the feud between Fox analyst and NFL Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe and the Memphis Grizzlies. With the Grizzlies now in the middle of a playoff run, the situation has once again come to the fore. Yet, what exactly happened?

Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies have an issue

It’s not every day that you see a spectator entering into a fight with a player who is on the court. Yet, that’s exactly what happened back on January 20th when the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a game that ended 122-121. On the night LeBron James put 23 on the board, while the now Clippers point guard, Russell Westbrook put up 29 points to hand the Grizzlies a frustrating defeat. On the other hand, the main story of that night was the shouting match that erupted between Shannon Sharpe and more or less the entire Grizzlies team.

Shannon Sharpe gives his version

Though Sharpe didn’t discriminate as the dispute went on, it’s safe to say that everything started with Grizzlies player, Dillon Brooks. Following a game between the two teams earlier on, Sharpe gave his view on Brooks’ ability to guard LeBron James.

“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave. 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—’ me. I said, ‘F—’ 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.”

It’s worth noting that Brooks’ teammate, Steven Adams, then entered the fray and subsequently had to be restrained after confronting Shape, who far his part was escorted off of the court. Before his departure, however, Tee Morant - Ja’s father - also got involved in the situation. A fixture at almost all of the Grizzlies’ games, it was clear that he was not having any of Sharpe’s words. Yet, the pair finally appeared to smooth things over.

Where are things now between Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies?

To be fair, both Tee Morant and Shannon Sharpe could be seen making peace shortly after the verbal dispute, with both men embracing and exchanging both words and smiles. On the other hand, one has to question what was Sharpe’s thinking when he entered into a heated dispute with a team while he sat courtside during their game i.e., it doesn’t seem to make sense. As for the players themselves, Dillon Brooks obviously had his own take.

“I ain’t talking about that, you can ask him. He’s the blogger, whatever he is. I don’t really care about all that,” Brooks said, before referring to Sharpe as a “a regular pedestrian.” Interestingly, LeBron James had a different take. “I ride with Shannon 365 days, 36 on a leap year, 24/7. So that’s my guy. I always got his back and he’s got mine. He can talk with the best of them, for sure,” James said.