Matt Barnes: I earned respect for fighting Derek Fisher

Matt Barnes is set to join his "homeboy" DeMarcus Cousins with the Sacramento Kings. Before he can move forward, though, he took a look back at a more turbulent time in his career.

Amid new rumors of Derek Fisher possibly returning to the NBA as a player, Barnes opened up about their well-documented brawl over the former Knicks coach's romantic relationship with Barnes' ex-wife, Gloria Govan.

"To be honest with you, whether the NBA fines me or not, I'm a man and I'm gonna do what a man's gonna do," the 6-foot-7 swingman said Wednesday on "Brown and Scoop" on CBS Radio's Play.it.

"I'm a man and to me that was 100 percent wrong, so I reacted on it. So that doesn't make me a bad person. I think any real man would've done the same thing that I did."

Related: Barnes says 'Violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is'

The 13-year vet said he actually received support for resorting to violence.

"I got a lot of respect for it from men, from the NFL, Major League baseball, rappers, every player that you can think of, referees, GMs, owner, all said the same thing," Barnes said. He added, "It was a bad situation and I did what I did," he said, before suggesting he should've gotten away with it scot-free.

"Like I said, I handled it like a man and it should have ended there, I shouldn't have gotten told on and snitched on and all this other kind of stuff, but it is what it is and it's in the past now. My ex and I have moved past it. Our goal is to raise our kids and make sure that they're happy."