Don't look now, but the San Antonio Spurs are starting to click, and part of their success has been veteran Harrison Barnes. Barnes was acquired in a trade with the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls, with him being sent to San Antonio.
The Kings' decision to include Barnes in a sign-and-trade to acquire six-time All-Star Demar Derozan looks questionable in retrospect. Thus far they should be regretting that decision, with the Kings off to a sluggish start and the Spurs off to their best start in five years, with Barnes playing a big role in their success.
It isn't just that Barnes is playing well on another team; the Kings gave up a 2030 first-round pick swap to complete the deal. That gives San Antonio the rights to a distant pick to take Barnes back in the three-team trade. The pick is a huge get for the Spurs, who keep stockpiling assets, but Barnes has also been impressive.
The San Antonio Spurs adding Harrison Barnes has quietly paid off.
Barnes has played an outsized role on the Spurs, who have needed his shooting considering they have quite a few non-shooters. He's averaging 11 points in less than 30 minutes while drilling 43% of his 3.3 3-point attempts thus far.
Barnes has also proven to be a terrific cutter, moving into open spaces and making it easier for Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama to find him. In a recent game against the Golden Warriors, his former team, he scored off four cuts to the basket, with Wembanyama finding him each time.
With teams hyperfocused on Wembanyama, Barnes has done a terrific job of racking up easy points and even recently had three straight games with at least 20 points, helping the Spurs get back over .500.
The Sacramento Kings should regret giving up Harrison Barnes to the Spurs.
While he isn't going to continue to drop 20 a game, what he has done thus far is sustainable. He has been an above-average 3-point shooter over his career and should continue to feast on open threes. Him also taking advantage of defenders who get caught watching Wembanyama should lead to plenty more scores off of back cuts.
Those skills actually make him a better fit at power forward next to Wembanyama offensively than Jeremy Sochan. That could lead to interim coach Mitch Johnson having to make a tough decision. Having rookie Steph Castle in the starting five has been useful, giving them another ball handler to help Paul while he's a physical defender who can harass opposing guards.
Then there is Devin Vassell, who is the Spurs second-best player and their best shooter. He has been in and out of the lineup but should soon regain his starting role after a ramp-up in his minutes. The Spurs may be best suited with Paul, Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Barnes, and Wembanyama as their starting five with Tre Jones, Castle, Keldon Johnson, Sochan, and Zach Collins backing them up.
That 10-man rotation would give the Spurs the best possible spacing around their best player and help solve their offensive woes. They rank just 17th in offensive rating this season, but they likely would be worse without Barnes, who has given them a reliable role player who can score in multiple ways.
The fact that they were paid by the Kings to take him on is all the more surprising and will help San Antonio both this season and going forward.