DeMarcus Cousins, Matt Barnes involved in fight at a New York club

DeMarcus Cousins and Matt Barnes were involved in an apparent altercation at a club in New York following the Kings’ loss to the Knicks on Sunday, according to TMZ.

TMZ reports that Barnes is being sought by New York City police after allegedly choking a female patron at Avenue Nightclub. Video posted by TMZ appears to show Cousins holding his right hand outside the club and admitting to punching a man at the club after seeing Barnes get choked.

After the initial report, Barnes insists in a new TMZ story that the incident was not started by him or Cousins, and both players reacted only in self defense. According to Barnes’ telling of the events, he was knocked to the ground and one of the men involved in the altercation started to choke him.

“We have clear standards of conduct and behavior expected of the entire Kings organization – on and off the court,” the Kings said in a statement. “We are working with all parties involved to gather information in order to take any appropriate next steps.”

Barnes joined the Kings as a free agent this summer. He and Cousins have apparently grown close early this season.

Barnes has a history of violent moments in his past. The most notorious of those incidents is when he drove to his estranged wife’s house to confront her new boyfriend, then-Knicks coach Derek Fisher. Barnes has also been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence (charges were dropped) and once struck an opponent in the face during a pro-am summer game in San Francisco.

In April 2015, then-Pacers forward Chris Copeland was stabbed outside an NYC club. In the aftermath to that incident, Thabo Sefolosha’s leg was broken by NYPD officers during a physical confrontation. Sefolosha was found not guilty of three misdemeanors related to the incident, and has since sued the NYPD for damages.