Derek Fisher has broken his silence after he got into a huge brawl with his former teammate Matt Barnes over Barnes’ estranged wife, Gloria Govan.

Interestingly enough, in his first statement since last year’s incident, Fisher defended Govan.

“First, I was stunned and disappointed by the way Gloria was treated in the media. After the much publicized (and unfortunate) situation went down in Los Angeles last year, story after story was published that portrayed her as a piece of property, instead of a strong, independent woman and mother she is…”

He went on to share his thoughts on Barnes. He made it clear they really didn’t have any “history” before that, referring to speculation that they were good friends when he started his romance with Govan.

“We played together for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2010-2011 season, and a couple months in the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season. That’s it. That’s the history.”

He said while they were on the same team, their relationship never really went beyond the basketball court.

“Our kids didn’t hang out, our families didn’t interact. There were no birthday parties. There were no post-game dinners. We weren’t friends and we had no mutual friends.”

He made it clear that Barnes and Govan were legally separated when he began dating her. He was also on the verge of getting a divorce from his wife at the time as well.

“The relationship wasn’t something I was trying to publicize, but it also wasn’t something I was trying to hide, either.”

He added that him and Barnes never got physical when Barnes popped up at Govan’s house and went off on him.

“I didn’t retaliate. No one who was there did anything but try to calm him down, particularly because Matt and Gloria’s children were present. There was no fight. That’s it.”

Read what else he had to say here.