Matt Barnes is back in the spotlight once again! After Saturday’s match-up between the Fever and the Chicago Sky, Carter, along with Clark, became the center of attention in every news article across the WNBA world. While many argued that Carter’s “cheap shot” was intentional, possibly due to personal reasons, others expected some sort of explanation from Carter. However, an NBA legend disagrees with these comments and has something unexpected to add.

To share his thoughts, Matt Barnes sat down with the team from All The Smoke to record a response for their YouTube channel. During this interview, Barnes said, “I made a comment the other day or I made a little video the other day when Caitlin got pushed down by Chennedy Carter, and it wasn’t so much that she got put down. You don’t want to see cheap shots; sometimes it happens in the physicality. We all get hit with them. She’s going to get beat up, and they’re supposed to beat her up, right, you know?” And he didn’t stop there. He went on to give examples from his career days.

“I remember the first time we played KD in the preseason when he was in Seattle,” said Barnes, adding, “We, with the We Believe team Warriors, were trying to dog his ass, trying to physically beat him up. He was a young boy, you know what I mean, like we tried to physically beat him up.” Unexpectedly, Matt Barnes has another insight to offer on the recent Clark-Carter controversy. Does it seem like he is defending Carter? No, Barnes has someone else under the radar.

Caitlin Clark a la Matt Barnes

Continuing with the interview, Barnes said, “But that’s what you do to people who are supposed to be next in line, who are supposed to be great. So again, my whole thing wasn’t getting her elbowed or hard screened or even knocked down. My thing was, where are your teammates at? You’ve got to have your back because this is going to be a cold league.”

While backing up his words with “wasn’t getting her elbowed or hard screened or even knocked down,” he smartly mentioned the unexpected behavior from the Fever’s roster. Barnes also admitted that he was in Carter’s situation back during his career days. But, the controversy did not stop there! “It’s going to be tough,” said Barnes, advising Clark on being part of the WNBA world. But now, the question is: As Barnes, Kevin Durant, and everyone else have been part of the physicality during matchups, is it really part of the WNBA? What do you think? Comment down below!