Harrison Barnes may have checked every box the Spurs wanted when they brought him back, but he also showed up in Bleacher Report’s latest trade-candidate rundown because San Antonio’s forward room is suddenly overflowing.
Zach Buckley looked across all 30 NBA teams on Friday and picked one possible trade piece from each. For the Spurs, he landed on Barnes, the 34-year-old forward who re-signed in June.
Buckley’s point wasn’t that Barnes had fallen out of favor. It was that the Spurs have so many forwards in the mix that Barnes stands out mostly by process of elimination.
“The Spurs re-signed Barnes this summer, and he took a big paycut to stay, so there is obviously a mutual appreciation of the other,” Buckley wrote. “His appearance here, then, is more about the lack of obvious alternatives.”
“We could have gotten bold and put De'Aaron Fox, but we don't actually believe it,” Buckley continued. “Not yet, anyway. As talented as San Antonio's young guards are, Fox is still the best option for organizing and running an offense.”
“So, it's sort of Barnes by default,” Buckley added. “His experience and willingness to stay within his role are helpful to have, but a forward rotation featuring Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Carter Bryant and Tobias Harris could easily get by without him.”
Barnes’ return to San Antonio came on June 29, when he agreed to a one-year, $8 million contract. The Spurs announced the deal in July. That was a clear step down from the three-year, $54 million contract he signed with Sacramento in July 2023.
He landed with the Spurs a year later in the three-team sign-and-trade that sent DeMar DeRozan to Sacramento. Barnes made an immediate impact in his first season with San Antonio, starting all 82 games and averaging 12.3 points while shooting 43.3% from 3. He also waived his trade kicker so the Spurs could keep Julian Champagnie.
“I expressed to Brian [Wright] before last season and at the deadline that this was the place I wanted to be at,” Barnes said. “I felt like we had done a lot in the first two years of me being here, and I was excited that he felt the same way.”
His role got smaller last season, even as the Spurs surged. Barnes averaged 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 38.8% from 3. He started 52 games before Champagnie moved ahead of him in February, and Champagnie has since signed a new three-year deal.
Barnes has still been one of the league’s most reliable regulars. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, he has appeared in 323 of a possible 328 regular-season games. Over two seasons in San Antonio, he has played in 159 games, made 134 starts and averaged 11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
The playoffs brought an even thinner role. Barnes did not see the floor in the final three games of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, who won the title.
Before Barnes arrived, the Spurs had won 22 games the previous season. Barnes pointed to that contrast when talking about his place in the program.
“Everyone can look at last year and say this would be a situation to come to, but when I first got here, that was not the case,” Barnes explained. “I'm excited for another year of that. I'm excited to continue to grow with my teammates.”
Barnes, who turned 34 in May, is in his 15th NBA season. The Warriors took him seventh overall out of North Carolina in 2012, and he won a championship with Golden State in 2015. For his career, he has averaged 13.6 points per game and shot 38.5% from 3.
The Spurs finished 62-20 last season, good for second in the West.
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