File this one under “surreal”.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe was escorted by Crypto.com Arena security into the tunnel before halftime during the Grizzlies-Lakers game on Friday, after he got into a heated verbal altercation with members of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The shouting match appeared to begin when Sharpe jawed with Dillion Brooks from his court side seat. Eventually, Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant and Morant’s father, Tee Morant, among others, confronted Sharp as stadium security attempted to separate the two parties.
Sharpe spoke to ESPN after he was escorted into the tunnel.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe said. “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 came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems.
“But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Sharpe remained in his seat during the second half, and eventually appeared to make up with Tee Morant.
Sharpe is known to be a huge fan of Lakers star LeBron James.