Lakers: Chaos Erupts Between NFL Hall Of Famer And Grizzlies At Halftime

A long-retired NFL tight end almost fought an All-Star's dad... and Steven Adams.

During last night's stirring 122-121 Los Angeles Lakers win over the Memphis Grizzlies, some of the most heated interactions of an altogether chippy evening happened between two guys who had nothing to do with the on-court action at all.

The fun started right after the end of the game's first half, with the Memphis Grizzlies (who entered the night on an 11-game win streak) leading by a smidge, 53-49. Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks, an unrestricted 2023 free agent it might behoove LA to target for the right price, had been serving as the primary defender on Lakers power forward LeBron James.

Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, a three-time Super Bowl champion who's now a major Fox Sports personality on "Undisputed With Skip And Shannon" next to the odious Skip Bayless, started talking smack to Brooks. 

"They didn't want this smoke, Dave," Sharpe told Dave McMenamin of ESPN prior to the game's second quarter. "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 [Morant] came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn't want these problems. Then the dad [Tee Morant] came and he obviously didn't want no problems. "But I wanted anything they had. Don't let these fools fool you now."

In the video below, you can see that 6'11", 265-pound Grizzlies starting center Steven Adams definitely wanted those problems. Sharpe may still be in impeccable shape but, at 6'2" and age 54, he's not exactly cut out to get into a fistfight with basically any active NBA player.

If you want to do a JFK-style breakdown of the incident, here it is from the vantage point of The Orange County Register's Mirjam Swanson:

Tempers flare in the front row here at the Crypt — where Shannon Sharpe, Steven Adams and Papa Tee Morant exchange words and have to be kept apart before heading off in opposite directions. pic.twitter.com/EtMiSDY3sv

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) January 21, 2023

Eventually, Sharpe and the elder Morant made up later in the game.

It's all love between Shannon Sharpe and Tee Morant. pic.twitter.com/iSNeikINp1

— ESPN (@espn) January 21, 2023

When asked about his interaction with Sharpe after the game, Brooks apparently had very little idea of his exceptional NFL pedigree (during a 14-year career with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, Sharpe won the aforementioned three Super Bowls, was an eight-time Pro Bowler and was later named a member of the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team).

Per Dave McMenamin, Brooks supplied this terse response when asked about jawing with Sharpe:

"I ain't talking about that," Brooks said. "You can ask him. He's the blogger or whatever he is [a Hall of Fame football player who's now a TV personality earning multiple millions a year]. I don't really care about all that. Next question."