Last season, the Sacramento Kings experienced an 18-game improvement over the previous year and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2006. While first year Head Coach Mike Brown and the team’s two best players De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis deservedly received most of the credit, the Kings’ supporting cast was equally important in helping to turn the franchise around. Chief among the role players who helped right the ship was veteran swing man Harrison Barnes.
As a veteran in his 11th season, Barnes averaged 15.0 points and 4.5 rebounds rebounds per game. He also knocked down his 3-point attempts at a reliable rate of 37.4 percent. Undoubtedly, having an NBA Champion whose made two trips to the Finals in the locker room made Coach Brown’s job a lot easier; if a guy with Barnes’ resume could be coachable why would anyone else bulk at the team concept?
Harrison Barnes wants to continue to be a big part of their success next season.
In recognition of his contributions to last year’s success, the organization rewarded Barnes with a 3-year contract worth roughly $18 million per season on the first day of free agency. While making it out of the Western Conference and reaching the NBA Finals will be no easy task, the Kings can reasonably expect to earn homecourt advantage in the first round of next year’s playoffs. If they do that, anything is possible from there.
The team’s two All-Stars, along with the continued emergence of Keegan Murray, will be the biggest reasons they return to the postseason. However, Barnes will continue to play a vital role to the Kings’ success. Let’s take a closer look at why keeping him in Sacramento was the right move for the team.
Barnes proves to be a versatile scorer
In the modern NBA, there is sometimes a tendency for players to get pigeonholed into playing one style of basketball which can sometimes lead to an abandonment of important skill sets. If a player is labeled a “3 and D guy” he may find himself drifting around the arc and waiting his turn to launch a shot from deep. Otherwise, he may not get many shot attempts for the rest of the game.
Barnes is a veteran who has avoided this trap and turned himself into a well-rounded player. To find evidence of this, one needs to look no further than his shooting splits from last season. Barnes averaged 9.6 field goal attempts per game. 4.3 of those attempts came from behind the 3-point line. On the surface it may appear that almost 45 percent of Barnes shot attempts were from beyond the arc.
However, those stats are a little misleading and can only be understood when put in context. Barnes was also able to get to the free throw line to the tune of five attempts per night. This means that at least twice, and most often three times per game, Barnes was able to put enough pressure on the defense that they fouled him and the referee was forced to blow his whistle. When players are fouled in the act of shooting, the attempts are not factored into their shot attempt totals.
Therefore, a closer look at Barnes’ shooting splits reveal that at age 31, he has not forgotten the importance of attacking the basket. Far too often, players fall in love with the outside shot as they get older and abandon points in the paint. Barnes is the exception. While he has turned himself into a reliable outside shooter, he still keeps the defense honest by reminding them that he is still a threat to attack the paint of the dribble and finish with a poster-worthy slam.
Barnes is an important piece for the Kings’ roster continuity
Last season, the Denver Nuggets proved that keeping a solid core together over the span of a few years can pay off in a major way. Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Mike Malone have been together since 2016. It is rare in the modern NBA that two young players and a young coach get a chance to morph into two superstars and a seasoned coach but the Nuggets stayed the course and won it all.
Similarly, the Sacramento Kings have made a conscious effort to keep their core group of players together and give them time to develop. Their Head Coach, Mike Brown, was able to walk away with Coach of The Year honors in his very first year on the job. He has a voice that the guys in the locker room take seriously and the organization has decided that he will remain at the helm for years to come. While coaching stability is important, giving players time to grow individually and gel together ultimately leads to the highest levels of success.
Barnes is a High-IQ basketball player who has accepted his role on the team. He understands that he will not have plays drawn up for him on offense, but he shows up ready to contribute on a nightly basis. The primary offensive options will continue to Fox and Sabonis next season. As Murray and Davion Mitchell continue to develop, their opportunities will increase as well. However, Barnes will remain an important part of the equation in the team’s formula for success.
Next season, anything less than 50 regular season wins and a top-four seed in the Western Conference will be a disappointment in Sacramento. The team has come a long way from missing the playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons. Their overall chemistry and roster continuity has a lot to do with that.
Barnes’ presence is important to the team
Last season’s first round exit from the playoffs carried a bit of extra sting for Barnes; he was defeated by his former team, the Golden State Warriors. While no one wants to lose to many of their former teammates and their former head coach, Barnes’ time as a member of the Warriors organization has paid dividends for the remainder of his career.
There’s an NBA legend that during halftime of a Dallas Mavericks’ game in 2019, Barnes was informed that he had just been traded to the Sacramento Kings. Allegedly, instead of sulking and hitting the showers before the game was over, Barnes elected to finish the game with his teammates and try to earn one more win before heading to Sacramento. Most of us will never know how much of that is fact or fiction, but the fact that it is widely believed speaks to Barnes’ grit and determination. He has championship experience and it is evident in everything he does.
Sabonis and Fox are 27 and 25-years-old, respectively. They are two young players who just helped the Kings end their severe playoff drought. However, in the years to come, they will no longer be able to celebrate qualifying for the postseason. That has gone from a wish to an expectation. As the team advances into later rounds in the playoff, they will need an experienced veteran who can tell them what to expect in terms of game intensity and handling situations. That’s where Barnes fits in perfectly.
The Kings were one of the feel-good stories of the 2023 season. However, narratives change quickly in professional sports and the rest of the league is done being happy for the Kings organization. Next year the purple and gray will have a target on their backs from other teams who are looking to knock the off. The question will be, how are they going to handle the pressure of going from being the hunters to the hunted?
In the meantime, their management has shown that they are wise roster builders and they will not swing for the fences. Instead they will make incremental improvements year by year. Keeping Harrison Barnes for next year’s run was as good a move as any.