The Golden State Warriors has failed to cap off their record-breaking season with an NBA Championship, now they may need to make some changes.
Meanwhile, their Pacific Division rivals, the LA Lakers are looking to take the next step in their quest to bring the franchise back to relevance. The Warriors and the Lakers has now been intertwined because of Luke Walton, a former Laker and current Warriors assistant coach is due to take over the head coaching duties of his former team.
The biggest question for the Warriors in free agency concerns Harrison Barnes. Barnes was offered a 4-year, $ 64 million extension but he declined in order to become a restricted free agent. By doing so, he can get the max from his team, starting at around $22 million, possibly reaching $90 million over four years. He can also entertain offers from other teams and the Warriors still have the prerogative to match.
The question is whether the Warriors would still want to do that after Barnes got in a funk in the last games of the NBA Finals. When they needed him the most, he failed to deliver and disappointed pundits who believed he had the potential.
While it's not fair to judge a player based on a couple of games (important as they are), it has been indicative of his entire season. As Kevin Draper of Deadspin put it, Barnes has "stagnated" this season as "he's largely the same player he was when he entered the league, albeit more polished."
While Draper acknowledges that there is room for improvement and Barnes is still 24 (when a player peaks at around 27-see Steph Curry), there are now serious doubts on how much more Barnes really has to offer-and eventually, how much he should be paid.
The fact is, there are so many desperate teams in the market armed to their teeth in cap space while there talent is scarce. It's possible that Barnes can still net a max offer, but the Warriors are not a "desperate" team, the Finals loss notwithstanding. They can let Barnes walk, and if they would base it on his performance in the Finals' they probably should.
The LA Lakers have always been pointed out as the team that most likely to roll the dice. If they offer Barnes the max, it's likely they would get him. But the issue that the Lakers are not even sure they want to do that, as shown in this Lakers Nation article by Hannah Kulik, written after the Finals ended.
Kulik asked, "after plenty of playing time over four full seasons, is it realistic to expect he will get much better?"
The article does admit that "Barnes is a good acquisition at the right price." But if the Lakers need to enter a bidding war that would eventually reach the max just to pry him away, the Lakers would be better off pursuing other free agents. Besides, the Lakers have the no.2 pick, possibly Brandon Ingram who plays the same position as Barnes.