Harrison Barnes Comments on Decision to Leave Warriors, NBA Finals Loss, More

Harrison Barnes and the Golden State Warriors parted ways when the defending Western Conference champions inked Kevin Durant to a two-year, $54.3 million deal on July 4, and the former Dubs swingman took time recently to reflect on his departure from the team that drafted him in 2012. 

Speaking to The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears, Barnes broke down how his free agency played out and the factors that precipitated his move to the Dallas Mavericks. 

“The decision was more so made for me,” Barnes said. “I was not necessarily walking away from the situation. I wasn’t saying, ‘I don’t want to be here. I want to go there.’ But at the same time, I’m very excited about Dallas. It gives me an opportunity to grow.”

Indeed, the decision was, for all intents and purposes, made for him. 

Golden State had to renounce its rights to Barnes in order to clear space for Durant, and doing so made the 24-year-old an unrestricted free agent. The same held true for fellow restricted-turned-unrestricted free agent Festus Ezeli—whose qualifying offer was also pulled in order to carve out space to fit Durant onto the team’s balance sheet. 

“You started to kind of hear rumblings,” Barnes said of Durant coming to Golden State, per Spears. “Guys were starting to feel like he was probably going to come that way. It wasn’t a surprise he was coming based on talking to the guys. It wasn’t like, ‘Boom, boom’ [after …

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