Harrison Barnes is excited to play for the San Antonio Spurs in the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season. Just like Chris Paul, the one-time NBA champion said that playing for the legendary Gregg Popovich is one of the big reasons he wanted to join the team.
“I think it’s just the opportunity to come here and play for coach Gregg Popovich, play with this group,” Barnes told reporters in his introductory press conference via Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“I think is exciting, just because it takes a while to build things in this league. In order to be good, you have to have a formula for success, and I think over the years, the Spurs have been one of the toughest teams I’ve competed against. They’ve been a first-class organization in every way,” he added.
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Harrison Barnes joined the San Antonio Spurs as part of the three-team deal with the Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings, which saw DeMar DeRozan going to Sactown and Chris Duarte moving to the Windy City along with two second-round picks.
The 31-year-old forward is coming off a decent 2023-24 campaign, averaging 12.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game on 47.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 from three-point range.
Harrison Barnes waived his trade clause to join the San Antonio Spurs
Before going to the San Antonio Spurs, Harrison Barnes signed a three-year, $54 million extension to stay with the Sacramento Kings last year, and the contract included a 10 percent trade kicker. The trade kicker meant that if Sacramento traded him, Barnes would get a 10 percent salary bonus on the remaining money on his contract.
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Harrison Barnes told the media that he waived the entire trade kicker worth up to $3.7 million to make the three-team deal with the San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, and Chicago Bulls happen, which was an easy decision for him.
“There were definitely options where that was a factor, whether or not it would be waived or not. For the ability to be able to come to San Antonio, it was a pretty easy decision for me,” Barnes explained.
