The Spurs are keeping one of their most seasoned voices in the mix.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Harrison Barnes intends to return to San Antonio for the 2026-27 season, a move that keeps the veteran forward next to Victor Wembanyama and a young roster that has moved well beyond the early stages of a rebuild.
Barnes first landed in San Antonio in the summer of 2024, when the Spurs pulled him in through a three-team deal that also involved the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls. It was never about splash. It was about adding a player with more than a decade in the league, more than 1000 regular-season games, and an NBA title from his time with the Golden State Warriors in 2015.
He gave them exactly the kind of steady production that matters when a team is trying to grow up fast. Barnes started all 82 games in the 2024-25 season, put up 12.3 points per game, and hit 43.3 percent of his three-pointers. He fit cleanly beside Wembanyama as a floor spacer, and his durability gave San Antonio something it could count on every night.
The Spurs kept moving forward even after Wembanyama missed the final 30 games of the season with a blood clot, finishing with 12 more wins than they had in his rookie year. Then came the De'Aaron Fox trade before the deadline, and the whole feel around the team shifted. By the time the 2025-26 season opened, the conversation had changed from development to winning now.
That change showed up in Barnes’ own role. With younger players earning bigger slices of the rotation and the Spurs’ lineup getting more crowded, his scoring dipped to 9.9 points per game while he shot 38.8 percent from deep before eventually sliding to the second unit later in the season. His minutes kept falling in the playoffs, and he did not play in any of the final three games of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
Still, the numbers only tell part of the story. Barnes brings championship pedigree, and there are not many players on this roster who can match that kind of background. For a team with real postseason ambitions, that matters.
And the Spurs look a lot different now than they did when Barnes arrived. Wembanyama has become one of the NBA’s premier players.
Stephon Castle appears on the verge of becoming one of the league’s best two-way guards after winning Rookie of the Year in 2025. Dylan Harper may have just had the best individual NBA Finals performance by a rookie since Magic Johnson.
With that kind of growth around him, Barnes no longer has to shoulder the same load. His job has changed with the team, and the Spurs clearly value what he still brings.
By bringing him back, San Antonio keeps a veteran who knows the organization and understands what is expected as the franchise looks to build on last season’s trip to the NBA Finals.
In Other News...
Spurs Linked To Veteran Frontcourt Move That Would Change Everything Around Wemby
San Antonios offseason watch already has a familiar shape: the Spurs are looking for ways to keep building around Victor Wembanyama, and any frontcourt addition will be judged through that lens. With cap flexibility on their side, the team has room to explore a move that could add more size, athleticism and experience to a young core that is still taking form.
One name that keeps surfacing in that conversation is John Collins, with Chicago also frequently mentioned as a potential landing spot. The appeal is obvious on paper, since Collins could offer a different kind of presence next to Wembanyama, but the fit is not without questions because of his inconsistent shooting and only average rim protection. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Have A Sneaky Chance To Add Another Defensive Menace
The Spurs have spent plenty of time looking for ways to sharpen the edge of a defense built around Victor Wembanyama, and Jonathan Isaac fits the kind of low-risk swing that can be easy to picture from afar. Waived by Orlando and now on the market, he brings the sort of defensive reputation that has kept him on radars even as his value has been dulled by injuries and uneven availability.
The appeal is obvious on paper, because Isaac has long flashed the ability to change the tone of a game when he is healthy and engaged on that end. The hesitation is just as clear, since his offense has never come close to matching his defensive upside, which leaves any pursuit feeling speculative rather than certain for a Spurs team that is still weighing how much it wants to gamble on another high-upside, high-variance piece. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Have A Franchise-Changing Path To Speed Up Wembanyamas Timeline
For a franchise still trying to compress Victor Wembanyamas ascent into something more immediate, the idea of adding a proven star has a certain logic. That is why the chatter around a possible LeBron James sign-and-trade has landed with such force, especially with Bill Simmons and others floating the notion that a veteran of his stature could bring both on-court stability and the kind of locker-room gravity young teams usually have to wait years to find.
The financial side would be delicate, and the roster fit would have to make sense for both sides, but the appeal is obvious from San Antonios perspective. A lineup built around DeAaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, LeBron and Wembanyama would instantly change the temperature around the Spurs, while the Lakers would only consider such a move if they believed the return helped them elsewhere. The question now is whether this is just offseason noise or something the Spurs can seriously treat as a path worth exploring. [Read more 🡒]