Since Matt Barnes retired from the NBA following the 2017 NBA
Finals, he’s engulfed himself in a very impressive media career.
He’s spent time as a panelist on ESPN’s “The Jump,” but more
notably hosts his own podcast “All The Smoke” alongside former NBA
player Stephen Jackson.
Barnes joined our own “The Rematch” with Etan Thomas
to talk about his life after basketball. The pair discussed a
number of topics, including his off-court endeavors, his
involvement on social-justice issues and, of course, what his life
is like now that he’s part of the media.
After being in the NBA for 14 seasons, it’s been a nice second
career for Barnes.
“As athletes, we always thought there was some sort of motive.
There was a handful of people that you kind of trusted, but for the
most part, you had to watch yourself with the media,” Barnes said.
“That’s something Jack and I are trying to change, obviously. We’ve
experienced pretty much everything that our guests have experienced
and that gives us an easier intro and a different approach (to
interviews), which allows most of our guests to really let their
wall down and feel comfortable speaking to us.”
Of course, just like when he was on the court, Barnes is going
to have people who aren’t fans of the work that he’s doing. When
asked how he responds to the hate, he shrugged it off.
“I just smile, you know what I mean? Because the hatred was
similar to what I got when I played, and you know that you’re never
going to be able to make everyone happy,” Barnes told Thomas. “But
my whole goal with ‘All The Smoke’ was to humanize our guest. Rest
in peace Kobe, but you know Kobe’s greatness; you know (the
greatness of) KG, Steph, KD. You know what all these guys are great
for, but I wanted to be able to strip that down and show how that
process came about — what turns they made or what obstacles they
overcame to become as great as they are at their craft. I think
because of myself and Jack’s track record — obviously a spotted
track record, to say the least — but (we’ve) always been real.
We’ve got into some trouble, we’ve owned up to it, and if we needed
to apologize, we apologized. But we just always handled ourselves
in the realest type way.
“So, I think when we get our guests, they understand that we’re
not here for clickbait, we’re not here to start trouble. We really
just want to be able to have an in-depth conversation. And it was
never a situation where I just wanted to put a mic in someone’s
face; I don’t want that type of interview. I want it to be a
kickback atmosphere like we’re at the house medicating or having a
drink and just having a good conversation and I think that’s what
we’ve been able to do because of the realness that Jack and I
always approached life with and the game with. People respect that
and they feel like they can be comfortable with us.
“I forgot the guy’s name, Phil something from the New York Post
that just wrote a horrible article about me
and Jack. Like, horrible. I’m just like, ‘You’re mad because you’ve
been in this space for 30-plus years and, at the time, we hadn’t
even done ‘All The Smoke’ for a year but our resume already far
exceeded anything he’s ever done.’ To me, how I used that
(criticism) for fuel as a player, I use that for fuel as media now.
It’s crazy that we call ourselves media now. Because I never
thought (I’d be doing this). ‘Me, media?!’ You know what I mean? But I like seeing
people like me, you, the Knuckleheads and all of these other former
players that are in this space. We’ve always allowed other people
to tell our stories. We’ve always just been the talent. (It’s
always been), ‘You go score touchdowns or dunk or shoot threes or
hit home runs or run (for) world records in track and let these
white people tell our stories.’
“But we’re intelligent enough and can hold a conversation long
enough and paint a picture well enough now to tell our own story.
And again, that’s a little bit of that power slippage that they’re
starting to see from mainstream media where they’re like, ‘What are
these athletes doing, coming in here and doing our job? And in some
cases, doing our job better.’”
You can watch the full episode of “The Rematch” below.
This article was initially published on Basketball News on
Feb. 11, 2021.
