Some Warriors fans have been joking all series long that Harrison Barnes is a secret double agent playing for the Kings.
On the final possession of Sunday’s intense 126-125 Golden State victory, Barnes launched a 3-pointer that rimmed out and evened up the series at 2-2 heading back to Sacramento for Game 5. If Barnes’ shot is a few inches shorter, we could be talking about the beginning of the end of the Warriors’ dynasty.
Barnes played a crucial role in the first championship run during the 2014-15 season, as he was part of the original Death Lineup with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green that defeated LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The next season, Barnes struggled in the Finals as the Warriors let a 3-1 lead slip away and their chance at being named the greatest team of all-time following an NBA record 73-win regular season.
While speaking with reporters on Sunday afternoon at Chase Center, Barnes recalled his 2016 Finals struggles while looking ahead to the rest of this series. James Ham of The Kings Beat shared video from Barnes’ media scrum on Sunday.
“After you learn to put yourself together after 2016, I think one shot isn’t going to necessarily faze you,” Barnes said. “For me, it’s all about trusting the process. Like I said, we got a good look, missed it. At the end of the day, I think the way that we’re playing, the way that we’re in the series, we just have to continue to do that.”
The missed shot on Sunday also brings back memories of Andrew Wiggins’ missed 3-pointer in crunch time of Game 1. This series, which deserves to go to Game 7 with its back-and-forth nature, is fittingly tied at this point.
Barnes shot 35.2 percent in the 2016 Finals, while going 2-of-14 from the floor in Game 5, 0-of-8 in Game 6 and 3-of-10 in Game 6. That summer, Kevin Durant joined the Warriors, as Barnes signed a max four-year, $94 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
Barnes hasn’t been shy to yell in the face of his former teammates while unleashing dunks this series. There has been an undercurrent of energy brewing between Barnes and Draymond since 2016. Last year, Green was on his podcast “The Draymond Green Show” and told Damian Lillard how he wasn’t invited to Barnes’ wedding.
“Harrison Barnes, I think to this day, still don’t like me for KD coming here,” Green said. “And the reality is, I didn’t tell them to trade you. … This dude invite Steph, Klay, everybody to his wedding except me. Like, bruh. All these dudes were at the same meeting that I was at (in the Hamptons) – they was all there, too. However, I didn’t take it personally, because it is what it is. Like, I wasn’t invited to the wedding, it is what it is. I thought it was funnier than anything.”
It’s not like Dame brought up the topic. He was more of a sounding board for Draymond, who clearly had it on his mind more than four years after the fact, despite his claimed indifference.
In the grand scheme of things, Barnes’ contributions with the Warriors are often overshadowed by Durant’s two titles and two Finals MVPs in the years after Barnes left. But the humble wing was a key figure in the team’s defining 2015 title run and the build-up in the preceding years, as Barnes and Green were in the same 2012 draft class.
The 30-year-old Barnes is about to enter free agency again, and has been a solid but unspectacular role player for the Kings so far in the series, averaging 13 points and 1.5 steals per game. He’s also exchanged words with Draymond on occasion and remains an intriguing character in this epic first round series that’s filled with personal storylines.
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