“Matt’s mom basically embraced my mom the same way Matt embraced me when I came to the team. They became good friends,” That’s Spurs legend Stephen Jackson talking about his brother-for-life, Matt Barnes. They didn’t just hoop together, but involved their families in it. So, even now, long after their NBA bags stopped getting packed, that bond’s still strong. You see it on All The Smoke. But do you know the secret sauce behind that ride-or-die chemistry? Well, Stephen finally let that tea spill.

Barnes and Jackson, in January 2007, came together when Jackson got transferred from Indiana to Golden State in a wild multi-player deal. Close as always, then admitted, “He was somebody that every time him or his family did something, they called us”. Trying to pretend for the cameras? He has his answer. “[Our bond] was something that wasn’t forced or wasn’t fake at all. It was real organic.” And now, after all these years, Jackson finally peeled back the curtain on the real, sad, unheard backstory behind why their bond is so special.

On a recent episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break podcast, Stephen Jackson went back to 2007 memory lane. And he opened up about the moment that locked him and Matt Barnes together for life. Jackson revealed, “Matt’s mom had passed around that time, and during that, I didn’t go home, I didn’t take no vacation that summer. I stayed with him the whole summer, and just built that bond with him.” Matt’s mom, Ann Catherine Barnes, passed away after a sudden Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis on November 27, 2007. And through it all, Jackson stayed right by his brother’s side.

Jackson didn’t just stick around for a couple of days and bounce, but gave up everything. As he revealed, “I stayed there with him the whole summer, and that’s when we became brothers. I stayed with him the whole time, my family, everything I had planned. Even some events that the team had planned for me to speak on to go speak at, to make money, all that stuff was turned down.” This wasn’t about basketball. It wasn’t about loyalty points or being a ‘good teammate.’ It was about not letting somebody drown alone. Because the truth is, Jackson was scared. Not for missing checks. Not to upset the team. But a personal fear.

The fear of life flipping on him one day, of losing his own mom, and nobody being there. “I’m always thinking, anything can happen to me. So I want to be up with somebody. Something happened to my mom, I want somebody to be up. You know what I’m saying. That’s how I always think.” Jackson slowed while revealing his own fear.

And watching Matt, somebody he loved like blood, go through that kind of hell, it broke him. It ate at him. He couldn’t just leave. “Somebody that I love as a brother, and to see him go through it, you know, it was just something that I had to do.” That’s it. No playbook. No cameras. Just heart. The truth is that most NBA friendships fade away when the arena lights cut off. But not this one. Their bond got roots.

Matt Barnes reflected on the heartbreaking night he lost his mother

At just 50, Ann Catherine Barnes passed away from lung cancer. And while Stephen Jackson, amid his BIG3 drama, recently shared his side of their bond during that time, Barnes had already spoken about his own heartbreaking experience. On November 27, 2007, as Ann lay in a Sacramento hospital, the Warriors were scheduled to face the Suns at Oracle Arena. Barnes had zero interest in suiting up that night. But his mother, even in her final hours, insisted he go. 

“I was in Sacramento with her and drove, and we played Phoenix that night,” Barnes recalled. “I didn’t want to go to the game. She told me, ‘Go to the game, baby. Go play your game and I’ll be here when you get back.’” Sadly, she wasn’t. Ann passed away that same night, just 35 days after her diagnosis. Barnes never got the chance to hear her voice again. But he realised, “When you lose your mom, who is arguably your best friend, it’s good to know that there are people.” Stephen Jackson was one of them, standing for him.

That game wasn’t just a box score or a routine night on the court. For Matt Barnes, it was a final promise kept, a memory that still hangs heavy in the air. Basketball was his brief escape. And his mother knew that better than anyone. That’s why she pushed him toward the one thing that made sense in a world that suddenly didn’t.