I suppose we can see this as Matt Barnes‘ proverbial ride off into the sunset. Much-maligned throughout his career for his prickly demeanor and an insatiable penchant for both instigating and promulgating beefs well beyond their natural shelf-life, Barnes made himself a pariah around the NBA for much of his career, while simultaneously endearing himself to his teammates and his team’s fan base.
And after a 14-year career that finally culminated in an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors last season, Barnes has apparently reconciled himself to the fact that it’s time to tackle life beyond basketball. On Monday, he announced his retirement from the NBA via an Instagram post.
In typical Barnes fashion, it ran the gambit from expressing appreciating to the game and the fans who have supported him over the years, to an intractable need to lob a few final verbal hand-grenades at anyone who doubted him or criticized him over the years.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcky1INBXbw/?taken-by=dimemagazine
We wouldn’t have expected anything else. We wish Barnes the best of luck in all his future endeavors. We can only hope that retirement doesn’t offer him so much free time that he gets bored and decides to reignite his long-standing beef with Derek Fisher.
