Matt Barnes Gloria Govan
Memphis Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes and ex-wife Gloria Govan are pictured during happier times, July 15, 2014. Barnes reportedly spit in her face after beating up New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher at a party in L.A. Getty Images

A story about Memphis Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes driving 95 miles to beat up the coach of the NBA's New York Knicks sounds like something VH1 tried to construct for its hit reality show, “Basketball Wives: LA.” While the story hasn’t been confirmed by anyone involved, it hasn’t been denied either.

Barnes and Fisher were top-trending Twitter topics throughout Wednesday, so for people who might not be familiar with the athletes, here’s a quick background: Barnes and “BBWLA” star Gloria Gavon are estranged. He moved on with pop diva Rihanna, but the “BBHMM” star seems to have since kicked Barnes to the curb to date Travis Scott.

Fisher’s story is a little simpler. He and Govan are apparently in a romantic relationship. The New York Knicks coach -- who spent 18 years as a player, mostly for the Los Angeles Lakers, and is a past president of the NBA players' union -- went to a party at Govan’s place in Los Angeles on Saturday night. When Barnes found out about it, he reportedly drove from Santa Barbara to L.A. to fight Fisher, the New York Post reported. "He went crazy. He got in his car and went to the house and went after Fisher," a source told the publication.

As a side note, adding to the drama, Barnes and Fisher used to be teammates. They played together on the Lakers from 2010 to 2012 and were “very close,” ESPN wrote.

To make the story juicier, Fisher didn’t show up at the Knicks' practice session Monday, reportedly because of travel conflicts. But when he arrived at practice Tuesday he didn’t have any visible injuries.

He was asked about the hypocrisy of a coach missing practice and gave a confusing answer. “Players are smart. They feel things very acutely,” Fisher told ESPN. “So if guys feel like I'm not here or not focused, they'll find that out. At this point [it's not an issue]."

While the coach was open about missing practice, he didn’t want to talk about his apparent whirlwind weekend. "Personal and private matters are personal and private. We're obviously public figures, but we're at work," he said, according to ESPN. "So I won't be commenting on anything that's happened personally or privately for me.”

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