Harrison Barnes (Photo : Ezra Shaw | Getty Images Sport)
The team with the biggest cap space may not be able to make the biggest splash in NBA free agency.
The LA Lakers can sign multiple players to a max deal and make their team a playoff contender, but who can they target to fill in the holes in their roster at small forward and center?
One option that most thought plausible was to offer Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors the maximum salary. While Barnes is a restricted agent, the idea was that the Warriors would not max a player who is probably their fourth option at best (behind Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson). Maxing Barnes will make him their highest paid player (until Curry signs a max next season as anticipated).
However, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders explained that the Warriors have all the reasons to keep Barnes. In response to a question on his chat, he explained that the Warriors can sign Barnes to the max, but if they let him walk, the value of the max (estimated $21 million) will not translate into cap space.
"So the choice becomes pay Barnes or lose him for nothing," Kyler said. "Paying him has zero impact on the franchise other than the check the team writes, even a max deal does not push them into the tax and with the cap going up it would not stop the team from adding in the future or paying Steph Curry."
With that, the ball is now in the Warriors' court, specifically their owner and front office-would they be willing to pay Barnes the maximum contract-$ 21 million for their fourth best player?
According to a recent update from Sean Deveney of Sporting News, the Warriors' owner Joe Lacob has not changed his position on keeping the champion team intact.
"One source within the organization pointed out that Lacob and the Warriors owners have, indeed, said all along that he will pay to keep a winning team together, and that has not changed," Deveney stated.
He also quoted an anonymous NBA GM: "I think that all along that they were not going to let him(Barnes) go unless they fell down and didn't win it all. It might just be that they're trying to push down offers, but that's the message."
The Warriors are one win away from another NBA championship. Lacob would be wise to follow the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Golden State Warriors are the farthest thing to being broke in the NBA.
It should be noted that one of the biggest reasons why Barnes has not broken out of as a prime player is the unexpected emergence of Draymond Green. Green was a second round pick in 2012, the same draft where Barnes was chosen seventh overall. But Barnes understands that sacrificing is the only way to win a title. Besides, he will still get chances to shine as shown in this NBA Finals series.
As Deveney stated, the only reason the Warriors would let Barnes go is if he makes a personal request to leave and take a bigger role with another team-say the Lakers who will parade Warriors assistant Luke Walton as head coach. Barnes won't even need to leave California in that scenario. However, Barnes has already expressed his intention to stay, albeit indirectly.
"When you peel away the individual stats and the money that could be made," Barnes said, "all that kind of pales in comparison to championships. That's what it's all about."
