Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors fights for the ball against Kent Bazemore of the Atlanta Hawks at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. (Photo : Getty Images/ Scott Cunningham)
NBA rumors are pointing to the possible departure of Harrison Barnes from the Golden State Warriors after the NBA Finals, while the Los Angeles Lakers has been touted to be his next team. These rumors are somehow connected to a prior report suggesting that the Warriors doubt the consistency and contribution of Barnes to the team.
Golden State Warriors, who are nearing a back-to-back championship, has been rumored to be pursuing new key players that would possibly result in some players being let go. According to reports, the Warriors are trying to sign upcoming free agent Kevin Durant to boost their line-up. And with this particular move, Barnes would likely be one of the sacrificial pawns to carry the burden.
The scenario of GSW letting go of Barnes is likely anchored to the inconsistency of Barnes overall production in the 2014-2015 NBA season. Barnes himself is cognizant of his previous game performances, his lack of consistency and timing.
"The wide-open layups, that's the most frustrating part," Barnes said after practice Tuesday, referring to his recent struggles." Barnes told CSN BayArea. "Three-point jump shots, that's one thing. But when you're missing the bunnies, that's when you're just sitting there, like, 'Are you serious'. Because there's no practice you can do about that. You can't come in here and do more (drills).
While it is an impending possibility that the Warriors will choose not to renew the contract of Barnes during his free-agency period, other teams are already lining up to take him under their franchise. According to reports, Lakers is one the teams who has been aggressively pursuing Barnes to be part of their rebuild.
If such were the case, the arrival of Barnes would be a great help and motivation for relatively younger players like Jordan Clarkson and D'Angelo Russell. The championship experience of the former University North Carolina small forward would be significant to the play of Lakers, especially if the franchise will pursue hiring Luke Walton as their head coach who already know how to utilize Barnes' skill set.
However, the speculations of Barnes moving to Lakers is said to be dependent on the inability of the franchise to lure Kevin Durant to their team, and the Warriors possibly not having much use for Barnes. But with the recent display of dominance on the court, the Warriors might have to reconsider Barnes, especially with his breakthrough performance during the playoffs and particularly in the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And such comeback led Warriors' head coach Steve Kerr to acknowledge his performance.
"Harrison was great. Made those early shots to help us get going. Did a great job defensively. Hit a huge three, I guess it was early fourth quarter. But he was fantastic." SportingNews quoted Kerr as saying.
Though there is really no certainty on how things would turn out for Barnes concerning with the current NBA rumors speculating his future with the Warriors and possible transfer to the Lakers, his current team already assured that they will respect the decision of their player.
