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The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed forward Harrison Barnes. He was a restricted free agent, and his former team, the Warriors, declined to match the Mavs’ offer sheet.
Barnes’ deal is reportedly a $94 million dollar contract over four years.
Barnes has shown flashes of big-time talent, but his role on the Warriors was mostly that of a role player. Which is understandable, considering how great some of his Golden State teammates were. Still, it remains to be seen if Barnes can emerge as a leading man himself.
Barnes (6-8, 225) played his first four NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors (2012-16) and was a restricted free agent with the club. He holds career averages of 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 28.1 minutes in 307 games (246 starts) while shooting 44.6 percent (295-of-633) from the field, 37.6 percent (287-of-764) from 3-point range and 73.9 percent (484-of-655) from the line. He was a member of the Warriors’ 2015 NBA championship team.
The Warriors selected Barnes with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. As a rookie in 2012-13, he appeared in 81 games (all starts) and averaged 9.2 points and 4.1 rebounds en route to earning NBA All-Rookie First Team honors.
In 2014-15, Barnes started all 82 regular-season games for the eventual NBA champion Warriors. He averaged 10.1 points and 5.5 rebounds while posting career highs in field goal percentage (.482) and 3-point field goal percentage (.405). The following season (2015-16), Barnes averaged 11.7 and 4.9 rebounds while helping the Warriors win an NBA-record 73 games.
Barnes increased his scoring average in each of his first four seasons. After drafting Barnes in 2012, Golden State went on to reach the playoffs in each of the next four years. What’s more, when Barnes helped the Warriors reach the playoffs as a rookie in 2012-13, it was just their second playoff appearance in the last 19 years and their first since 2006-07.
The Ames, Iowa, native played two seasons at the University of North Carolina, earning First Team All-ACC honors as a sophomore in 2011-12. He declared for the NBA Draft following his sophomore season.
