During Sunday (Jan. 22) afternoon’s pivotal game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers, Matt Barnes found himself in a heated incident with his fiancée, Anansa Sims’ ex-husband, David Patterson Jr.
In a video obtained by TMZ Sports (see below), the altercation catapulted after the former NBA champion and Patterson crossed paths at the Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco.
Barnes spat on Sims’ former partner before the men tussled and exchanged words. Two days after the interaction, Barnes filed for a temporary civil restraining order in Los Angeles County Court, claiming that Patterson was the aggressor in the situation. In the court documents, Barnes explained, “[Patterson] hunted me down and aggressively confronted me.” He stated how the 37-year-old yelled expletives and threats at him while provoking the crowd surrounding them “into a frenzy by yelling out my full name repeatedly.”
Barnes added, “[He] shoved me, and I was forced to push him off of me. I did not want the altercation to physically escalate further, and out of frustration with him seeking me out and his unrelenting repeated harassment I spit in his direction in disgust.”
Local authorities were called to the scene to investigate a battery claim, in which they named Barnes as the suspect. The athlete also believes Patterson “is jealous of my relationship with his ex-wife” and alleged that the latter threatened him with a deadly weapon in 2022.
Barnes was in a similar quarrel back in 2016. According to FOX News, he confronted former New York Knicks head coach, Derek Fisher, who was dating Barnes’ now ex-wife Gloria Govan at the time. He allegedly told a friend that he beat up Fisher and spit in his face. The two have since reconciled.
Sims shares three children with her ex-husband of seven years, and one child with Barnes. He proposed during Christmas 2022 after over five years of dating.