Top 70 Matt Barnes Quotes

Refs need to get over themselves.

I don’t have friends when I’m on the court, besides my team.

I’m an aggressive player. I always have been.

In order to win a championship, you’ve got to be consistent.

I’m listening to 2Pac the whole time. While I’m getting treatment, while I’m stretching, I’m listening to music.

With 2Pac you can’t go wrong.

I wear my heart on my sleeve.

I realize that I’m one of those guys that if I’m not with you, you hate me. But when I’m with you, you understand who I am and what I’m about and love me.

I like being the hated one.

I play basketball hard-nosed and if you’re not on my team, during that 48 minutes we’re enemies.

I’ll knock down the open jumper when it’s there, but I want to get after it on the defensive end.

I’m all for a great fan environment to cheer us if we’re home and boo us if we’re the opposing team. But some fans are over the line with the stuff they say, the stuff they do.

I am very excited about playing for Mr. Ballmer.

This social media era is giving us a more in-depth look at our favorite people, and it’s all aspects, from music to movies to television to sports. I think it has been somewhat of a distraction at times, but also a huge benefit.

I was the bad guy, the NBA bad guy.

I really feel blessed to be in a position I am, to even have an opportunity to play in the league.

Everybody is looking for me to fail.

Once I stopped playing I didn’t have the urge or drive to play again.

I just think, obviously as players, we’re held to a higher standard. I’ve had to watch myself on that, but I think if we’re held to higher standards, the owners should be held to even higher standards.

Every one of us has the ability to raise awareness, volunteer, educate our friends and family, and give back to our communities.

I’ve never had a huge contract.

I’m a target on and off the court. I’ve done some things I regret. But being a target is rough.

Running hard I can get some easy points, and I’m definitely going to keep doing that.

I’ve been playing in L.A. for a long time through college and pros, just to be ready. It’s different out here.

My mom was my rock, my confidant and my best friend. She was an elementary school teacher who worked with students with disabilities and she lived every day giving back to her family and her community.

I’m a football player playing basketball.

I’ve traveled the world, made a lot of money, met a lot of amazing people.

I was playing tackle football in the street at five years old. Always being physical. Always being tough, just like a man’s man. It was just always about being tough.

Sometimes I act off emotion, but I also try to speak my mind. Take it or leave it, really.

When I feel something isn’t right, I’m going to speak my mind and stand even if it’s by myself.

Running in transition and scoring in transition, prevents you from setting your defense up on the other side.

In the NBA you better come to play every night, where in the NBDL the talent level just isn’t there and maybe you have guys taking a night off.

Good TV is not about people being happy; it’s drama.

Anytime that your name is up in a trade, I’m sure it can affect you mentally, and that obviously carries over to the court.

I kind of have a bad-guy reputation.

Even though the city of Memphis and this organization has welcomed me with open arms, I play every game like it’s my last. Play as hard as I possibly can. Been no different my whole career.

I love to be physical.

If I look at a ref funny, I’m getting a tech. If I say anything wrong on the street, it’s on Worldstar or TMZ.

I’m a role player, a journeyman. I know who I am.

I’ve learned that everything is a slow process in the TV and movie industry.

To win a championship, you need to win on the road.

Some guys have one good year and fade away. I’ve worked too hard to get here and it’s took me too long to just fade away.

I always wanted to do NBA Cares but they didn’t want me to represent the league. I just did Matt Cares instead. I went to Africa by myself to do camps and clinics.

Overall, Twitter has been a great tool for myself and my family as far as promoting our charity and the events we do and really just kind of interacting with our fans. But it can be in the negative form, and guys have to be careful.

Early in my career I had to be a goon to survive. I did everything I had to do and probably some things I shouldn’t have.

If you take the chance to get to know me off the court, you’ll see that I’m not the bad guy that everybody wants me to be on the court.

It’s us against the world when you step out on that court.

I’ve had to fight every year. That’s kept me hungry.

It’s obviously a blessing to be able to play on Christmas Night, the one big night everyone watches.

Where I came from, my upbringing, the ups and downs it took to get my career started, when I made it, I played every game like it was my last game.

Until you get that championship, nobody’s good enough.

I was one of those guys who wasn’t supposed to make it in this league.

I was a good shooter in college, but it’s a different level here in the NBA and I’m working on getting better.

We call media out that hasn’t played and have crazy opinions.

It comes with experience and learning and knowing the game. It’s not necessarily about sticking your chest out and saying, ‘I’m tough.’

I started Athletes vs Cancer as a way to honor my mother, but now giving back has become a part of who I am, and more importantly, this is a key value I hope to pass on to my own sons.

I respect all my opponents, but I fear no one.

I’m a competitor.

I think people on Twitter know that I’m real and I speak from the heart most of the time, and sometimes I’m going to make a mistake.

I think what I came from and what I saw molded me into a certain person. Nothing was ever wrapped or a silver spoon, so I don’t think I would know how to live and I don’t think I’d want to live if it wasn’t a grind.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, being ref is a very tough job – managing 10 of the best athletes in the world. At the same time, I think there is way too much ego from their standpoint.

I just think that my road has been so difficult to get where I’m at that I don’t take anything for granted.

Athletes vs Cancer is a foundation that I started in 2008 after I lost my mom to cancer in 2007, and our goal is early detection, preventative screening and just really spreading knowledge about the cancer disease.

I was blessed to play 15 years, especially not even supposed to have made it. So, to be able to play 15 years, win a championship, I think that basketball chapter of my life is done.

My kids’ happiness kind of outweighs everything. Just seeing the smiles on their faces and the anticipation leading up to Christmas is what I love now, having kids of my own.

People don’t realize that everyone in the NBA is really good. The difference is having a coach that believes in you.

You’re never prepared to lose anybody in your family.

There’s so much that goes into being a pro athlete that people have no idea about.

You can’t take a night off in the NBA.

When you’re going through a divorce it’s hard.