The sophomore year slump hasn’t skipped talented forward Harrison Barnes, and while the Golden State Warriors see a bright future for the young man, they are also willing to part ways with him if the right trade comes along.
Barnes is playing more this season than in last year, but finding it difficult to come off the bench, not making the improvement and jump some expected to see from him. He’s averaging 10.4 points per game, while shooting 41.6% from the field, a slight drop from last season. His numbers per minute have dropped slightly as well.
Barnes became a bench player because of Andre Iguodala being added to the roster, although he never said he minded coming off the bench. The Warriors are getting a lot of calls from teams around the league for him, but as they see this season as one in which they can do more than simply get into the playoffs and advance one round, they want a big name for Barnes, which is going to be hard to come by.
The Warriors aren’t too worried: They are looking for a backup point guard to help Stephen Curry get some rest or play off the ball like he did last season in crunch time, but keeping Barnes is something that when you get down to the bottom of their intentions is something they want to do, because there don’t seem to be too many big names on offer at the moment, or at least not the kind of player the Warriors feel is going to help them get a significant upgrade.
Like with many teams and players around the league, the Warriors aren’t actively trying to shop Barnes, but they’re open to offers, hoping that someone thinks his potential is worthy of giving them a player who can make them into a clear contender.