Harrison Barnes Among NBA's Most Intriguing Early Contract-Extension Candidates
The Golden State Warriors don't have to look far to see the urgency surrounding Harrison Barnes' potential contract extension this summer.
They inked Klay Thompson to an 11th-hour deal ahead of the Oct. 31 deadline last year, locking down a piece of their core before a breakout campaign and, just as importantly, before restricted free agency could make things complicated.
Now, Barnes is eligible for the same treatment, though his situation is trickier—not just in comparison to Thompson's, but in terms of every other high-profile early-extension candidate in the league.
Because he's unique.
Barnes isn't Anthony Davis or Damian Lillard, the two players from his draft class who have made All-Star teams and have the cachet to wait before signing their next deals. Barring a dramatic change, max money awaits both of them whenever they're ready to accept it.
Barnes also isn't Jonas Valanciunas or Andre Drummond, two players who occupy more central positions on their respective teams. Neither the Toronto Raptors nor the Detroit Pistons are deep or talented enough to let either of those players go.
The Warriors are different. Though it wouldn't be ideal to see Barnes escape via free agency in 2016, having Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston or even Justin Holiday around to fill the void on the wing means there are fallback options aplenty. The Dubs would be fine without Barnes.
At the same time, he's too good and fits too well into Golden State's plans to be a back-burner priority this summer. Allowing him to reach restricted free agency a year from now brings the possibility of another team drastically overpaying for him. Remember, it takes only one nutty offer sheet to make matching cost-prohibitive.
Barnes' strong performance during the Warriors' playoff run added another 21 starts to an 82-start season. Digest that: A 23-year-old, obviously athletic talent who is still smoothing off the rough edges of his game started 103 games for a title-winning team.
When you think about Barnes that way, the need to lock him up seems more pressing.
But you have to take the full picture into account: Barnes notched all those starts only because Iguodala agreed to a bench role. And as a member of the first unit, Barnes was routinely the fourth or fifth option on offense.
Then again, Barnes was key to Golden State's small-ball attack. He hit timely shots all season, drilling 40.5 percent of his attempts from long range:
He provided highlights at opportune times:
He guarded LeBron James, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol during the Dubs' playoff run.
Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard talked to Warriors defensive guru Ron Adams about Barnes' uncommonly good defense against bigger foes:
"“He likes guarding people in the post,” says Adams, who foresees a league full of Harrison Barnes [types] in the future. “I think the way our game is progressing it’s going to be demanded of a lot of people,” he says. For now, Barnes provides a glimpse of that future. “He’s a very versatile defender and his fundamentals are solid. He’s up for the challenge.”
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Guys like Gasol and Randolph still have advantages over the 6'8" Barnes down low—but probably not ones that are big enough to offset the advantages Barnes has against them on the offensive end.
And he works like a madman, according to head coach Steve Kerr, per Jeff Faraudo of the San Jose Mercury News: "In the end it was all up to him, and he's taken advantage of his opportunities. He's one of the hardest workers I've ever seen. I thought this year he really put himself in a great position to succeed, and he went out and did it."
Barnes isn't fully formed yet. His ball-handling is still shaky. When put in a position to create his own shot, he struggles to do better than a contested jumper off the dribble. More than anything, he still overthinks (maybe because he hears nit-picky criticisms just like the ones in the last two sentences).
Jonathan Abrams from Grantland pointed out that his potential has never been the problem. It's more about trying to finally free it all.
"But throughout his career, from high school to the University of North Carolina to the NBA, it hasn’t always been easy for Barnes to relax and let the game come to him. He doesn’t have the mentality of a conscience-less gunner like J.R. Smith, who will keep looking for his shot no matter how many times he misses. Barnes often cares too much and allows himself to be too aware of how he’s performing in the moment. He has had to learn how to shoot, let the ball bounce in or out, and move on to the next play.
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But he's 23, for crying out loud.
The potential for a massive leap is there, and even if Barnes gets no better, he can still play both forward spots, stripe it from deep and run the floor—all without complaining or presenting even the faintest whiff of a character issue.
What's that worth in the current NBA financial climate, with the cap rising and long-term deals of almost any kind looking like bargains down the line? Ten million dollars a year? Twelve million?
Either of those possible salaries would be a bargain for a proven starter when the cap jumps to about $90 million in 2016-17, which is when Barnes' hypothetical extension would kick in. And what if Barnes makes the leap?
Steal.
As many variables as there are, and as potentially tricky as Barnes' extension talks could become, the principal parties could make things easier by being on the same page.
And they seem to be, according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group: "According to multiple sources, Barnes indeed wants an extension and the Warriors want to give him one. The only question is how much will he get."
The Warriors could hold off if they want to preserve flexibility for a possible run at a marquee free agent in 2016, but if Barnes sticks around at a reasonable rate, he'll be tradable anyway. Even with Draymond Green looking at a huge deal shis summer, there will still be money left for Barnes. Plus, with David Lee's salary coming off the books after this year (assuming the Warriors can't find a way to move him sooner), Golden State is going to have some freedom regardless.
It's a little crazy that Barnes is a significant offseason concern for the Warriors, given how bleak his career looked just a year ago. He regressed as a sophomore, miscast as an isolation scorer by former head coach Mark Jackson. His confidence was shot, his production in decline. He was a pot-sweetener in the Kevin Love trade that never happened, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.
Now, Barnes is an important piece of the best team in the league.
Credit him for bouncing back, but don't discount the other influences at work: culture, Kerr and veteran leaders who've helped him maximize his abilities. On another team, perhaps Barnes never finds his comfort zone.
When negotiations get down to brass tacks, expect both sides to realize how good they are for each other.
If that happens, a complicated free-agency situation gets simpler in a hurry.
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