Former NBA player Matt Barnes denies that he was scammed out of $61,000 by an AI model on a dating app — and he is furious that the rumor is making its rounds on the internet.
Barnes, 45, said he has been on a trip to Dubai and came back to the wild rumor, spurred by his friend, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, bringing it up on his “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
“2025 has been a crazy year, man,” Barnes said in a video posted via Instagram on Monday, December 8. “When I look back on this year in 10 to 15 years, it’s gonna be like, damn. From my personal life being flipped upside down because of me, but at the same time, really starting to take off.”
Barnes continued, “I’ve sat back and watched the internet lie about me the whole year.The whole year … lies from me being gay, to me talking [someone into an] abortion, to me telling some girl not to do a reality show.”
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“Then I get back from Dubai … and all of a sudden I’m suing an AI model, or I got played by an AI model,” he said. “And all these little bottom-feeding blogs pick it up. Shout out to the ones that are real and know the bulls*** from the bulls***, or at least check. Some of you bottom of the barrel-a** motherf*****s keep running the same garbage.”
Barnes added that he spoke privately with Arenas, 43, to address the controversy.
“I had a conversation with Gilbert,” he said. “He addressed the bulls*** and from there it caught fire.”
Barnes explained,“I told him, ‘Bro, after all we been through, bro, like, tap in with me and see if it’s real.He said he apologized, he didn’t know it was that deep, but someone I’m close with addresses the lie and it catches fire.”
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This isn’t the first time Barnes has faced similar allegations. In 2023, he admitted to paying off a woman with whom he had an affair, despite never having met her in real life.
Barnes closed his video by reminding viewers not to believe everything they read and revealing he has had a tough go of it lately, though he didn’t get into specifics.
“Like I said, I been dealing with some real s*** while y’all been lying, but anyway, you know what they say,” he said. “When the hate don’t work, they gotta start lying. But y’all motherf*****s don’t have to believe ‘em. Trust me, you don’t. Stay blessed 2026, we coming.”
Barnes played in the NBA from 2004 to 2017, changing teams 12 times. A 2017 NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, Barnes was a second-round NBA Draft pick out of UCLA and averaged 8.2 points per game during his career.
He began dating Gloria Govan of Basketball Wives fame in 2006 and the couple married in 2013. They share twin 17-year-old sons, Carter and Isaiah (He also shares sons Ashton, 7, and Austin, 15 months, with fiancée Anansa Sims.)
Barnes was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence against Govan, now 40, in 2010, though she denied the allegations and the charge was later dropped.
“Any accusations of domestic violence are false,” she said in a statement at the time. “My fiancé, Matt Barnes, has never physically abused me or my family.”
