Harrison Barnes: North Carolina Star Playing for His NBA Future

Every time North Carolina Tar Heels' star Harrison Barnes steps onto the court, he is literally playing for his NBA future.

Sure, he's trying to lead the Tar Heels to a national championship first and foremost, but don't be naive enough to believe that the NBA isn't looming large on his mind.

He's got a lot to gain by having a good tournament showing.  Not only does he help his school, but he helps his draft stock. This is a stock that is already high, mind you, but he has the potential to impress scouts even more.

Ben Glicksman of SI.com writes a great piece on some of the biggest NBA prospects to watch in the tournament. On Barnes' NBA draft potential, one of the scouts had this to say, also talking about Kansas power forward Thomas Robinson:

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Those guys are realistically in the top five whether they're two and three, three and four or four and five, It's just a matter of teams' needs, unless one of them totally blows up in the tournament.

"

Barnes has a lot to gain, but he also has a lot to lose.

He has the potential to hurt his draft stock, both literally and figuratively. If he goes out and plays horrible in a few games—which I don't expect but is always possible—that could be the difference between being the No. 2 overall pick and the No. 5 pick. That may not seem like a big difference, but believe you me, it is.

The worst case scenario though is potentially disastrous. What if he goes out and sustains an injury?

Not only could that put his draft stock into question, but it could jeopardize his draft eligibility as a whole.

Here's hoping that nothing close to that scenario happens, but it has to at least be considered.

This is why every time Barnes goes out there he is playing for his NBA future, and he can impact it in both positive and negative ways.

This is the reality of big-time athletes and big time programs.

The college basketball world is great, but in reality, it's just an audition.