Now in his 13th NBA season, Harrison Barnes has still been a valuable player to have, albeit one that has seen his numbers dip in recent seasons. It’s been quite some time since he was on the 2014-15 and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors teams. He was the full-time starting small forward on both of those squads. The first of those years, Golden State won an NBA championship. In the second, they won an NBA-record 73 regular season games.
After he spent the last five full seasons with the Sacramento Kings, Barnes was involved in a three-team deal this offseason that shipped him to the San Antonio Spurs. That trade was most notable for seeing six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan leave the Chicago Bulls for the Kings.
While Barnes has never been considered a star, he has been a starter for the majority of his time in the league. He has now accomplished something for the first time in his decade-plus career.
Harrison Barnes Receives Honor For First Time In 13-Year Career
Harrison Barnes Named Western Conference Player Of The Week
On Monday, the NBA announced their Eastern and Western Conference Player of the Week for games played on November 18-24. In the Eastern Conference, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks received the honors. The two-time MVP has now been named Player of the Week in the East 24 times in his career.
Meanwhile out West, Barnes was named Player of the Week. The Spurs went 3-0 this past week to improve to 9-8 on the season. It is the first time in his career that he has been named Player of the Week. According to NBA.com, Barnes has played the most seasons in the league ever for a player receiving his first Player of the Week honors. Both Mike Conley and Jrue Holiday were named Player of the Week for the first time in their 12th seasons. Barnes is also the first Spurs player since DeRozan in 2020 to receive the honors.
The Spurs had a difficult week as they played the top two teams in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Warriors (also played the Utah Jazz). San Antonio won anll of those games even though their star player Victor Wembanyama missed both the Thunder and Jazz games. Barnes played a large role in their impressive week. In the three outings, Barnes posted averages of 22.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. The 6-foot-8 forward shot 61.8% from the field, 9-15 (60.0%) from three-point range, and 16-22 (72.7%) from the foul line.
Stepped Up His Game
This past week saw Barnes drop at least 20 points in all three outings. In his first 14 games of the season, his high had been just 18 points. In four of those contests, Barnes scored no more than four points.
Barnes and the Spurs will look to continue their hot streak on Tuesday in an NBA Cup game on the road against the Jazz. Through games played on November 24, San Antonio is tied for the ninth-best record in the Western Conference along with the Dallas Mavericks. Last season, when Barnes wasn’t on the team, they went just 22-60.
