Top 3 Sacramento Kings players off to a hot start this season

Top 3 Sacramento Kings players off to a hot start this season: 2. Harrison Barnes

We’ve already covered the hot start for Harrison Barnes once before, but it’s worth looking at him again, as he remains one of the best players on the Kings.

At 29 years old, Barnes is arguably having the best season of his career. He’s averaging 19.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, hitting 39.8 percent of his three-point attempts. The scoring average is close to a career-high, while the rebounding average is the best of his career.

Barnes has morphed into a better shooter during his Kings tenure, and this year, that success is manifesting itself into a career-best .635 true shooting percentage. The mark ranks 18th in the NBA.

For the second straight season, Barnes has also rooted the deep two out of his arsenal. Just 0.04 percent of his attempts are from that distance, a year after 0.03 percent of his attempts were from there.

Barnes appears to be adjusting well to his role, playing mostly at the power forward position. Prior to this year, he never played more than a third of his minutes with the Kings at the position. This year, he’s playing over 80 percent of his minutes there.

Despite being a lottery selection in 2012, Barnes has never made an All-Star team. His season might not rise to that level yet, but the former North Carolina Tar Heel is sniffing the accolade with his hot start.