Rethinking Harry Barnes

[SleepingHero]

I love to keep repeating this because this is one of the reasons why I love that we no longer have Barnes. 

The Kings before trading for Barnes were 28-26 and looking to be one of the biggest surprise teams of the year with a chance to sneak into the playoffs in the tough West.

After trading for Barnes (for essentially 2 players that weren't even in their rotation), the Kings ended the season 11-17. They've continued their losing ways. 39-53 is the Kings record with Barnes. 

They're paying him 20+ million and he can't be a cornerstone with Fox to lead that team to wins. Is Barnes solely to blame for the Kings record? Obviously not. But its interesting to see how we were always mediocre with Barnes, and we traded him to an up-and coming team and now they're the exact same mediocre team playing him in a very similar role.

[ItsGoTime]

He’s not playing in a similar role as he was here. He’s a 3rd option there (and sometimes less) here he was a first or second. He’s also playing more of a team game there as shown by his assist numbers there vs anytime before.  If he played here like he is there he might not even have been so hated (well, besides his contract) by so many.

I didn’t exactly want him here either, but you touched on yet another reason we should have extracted another asset from Sac, they were working on a playoff push. All these reasons for getting more, yet we got so little for him.

[StepBackJay]

In hindsight I would have rather just kept Barnes. Either he would have opted out or we would have had him on an expiring deal. Either would have been better than what we ended up with. Barnes would have been quite the trade chip at the TDL.

The issue is as flawed as he is, the Mavs got nothing in return. Barnes would have quickly adapted imo to knowing he's at best the 3rd or fourth option on the team.

[ThisIStheYear]

Wright, WCS, and Jackson for Barnes?  I’d take that any day.

[Reunion Mav Old]

Wright, WCS, and Jackson for Barnes?  I’d take that any day.

Currently I do not think I would. I like what Barnes could have adjusted to and then would have given this team more than those 3 have so far. There in lies the big point. All 3 players may still give us much more in good play or in assets traded. I have hope for all three of these guys. Right now, none of them have reached the level of play we hoped for consistently...but they still might.

[SleepingHero]

Wright, WCS, and Jackson for Barnes?  I’d take that any day.

With the cap expected to go down, it makes Barnes' contract even more unstomachable for me. 

3 more years with 23, 20, and 18 left. It goes down which is an attractive feature, but I still don't think Barnes is worth 23 million to play 4th fiddle when we can just have DFS do the same exact thing on 20 million less. I do think Wright as an asset is our best bet at finding a 3rd option though. 

On the other hand if THJ keeps it up we may not even need a 3rd option...


Quick edit: With that being said, I still wouldn't mind seeing Barnes return to the Mavs in the future (probably after his current contract). I think he could be a great 4th option, and he's an all around great dude. There are some concerns about playstyles with him and Luka, given how Barnes exceeds on iso's and post ups. But if he were to comeback he wouldn't be given that many opportunities. I just think for what he's always brought to the table, he's been severely overpaid, and as soon as he can get paid 10-12 million I'd be all for him.

[ItsGoTime]

Wright, WCS, and Jackson for Barnes?  I’d take that any day.

I wouldn’t. Add Harry Giles to your list and and it’s a fair trade. No telling if we could’ve gotten Wright and WCS in another way too (Wright on a cheaper contract?).