Shannon Sharpe on Lakers-Grizzlies incident: ‘One of the worst moments of my life’

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Former NFL player Shannon Sharpe expressed remorse for his verbal altercation with the Memphis Grizzlies that occurred back on Jan. 20 of last year, when he was attending a Los Angeles Lakers game.

“It is what it is,” Sharpe said. “I’m wrong. I’m deada–. I was wrong. I apologized to the Grizzlies and Dillon Brooks. Honestly, that might have been one of the worst moments of my life. I should have let it go.”

Sharpe got into a shouting match with multiple Grizzlies players in Brooks, Ja Morant and Steven Adams at the end of the second quarter. Security had to step in to restore order.

The Lakers went on to beat the Grizzlies by one point in that game. Russell Westbrook — who is now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers — starred off the bench. He dropped 29 points, five rebounds, six assists and one block in 31 minutes of action.

LeBron James also played well for Los Angeles. He totaled 23 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals across 37 minutes of playing time.

Morant — who was seen jawing with Sharpe — scored a team-high 22 points for the Grizzlies but shot just 9-of-29 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep.

Fast forward over a year later, and the Lakers and Grizzlies each have some reasons for concern. The Lakers sit as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference at 26-25 and have struggled to find any semblance of consistency in the 2023-24 regular season.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are in a worse position than the Lakers are. They own the No. 13 seed in the conference and are six-and-a-half games back of the Utah Jazz for the No. 10 seed.

Injuries have played a part in the Grizzlies’ underwhelming season. They have been hit by the injury bug as hard as any team in the league this season. Perhaps the team’s best player in Morant will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.

It is a classy move by Sharpe to publicly acknowledge that he apologized to Brooks and the Grizzlies for the verbal spat that took place just over a year ago. Here’s to hoping that there isn’t any ill will between Sharpe and the organization.