Harrison Barnes emerged last year as a very good third-t0-fourth option on the Golden State Warriors’ championship squad. He’s not a superstar, and he probably won’t ever be, but who he is now is irrefutably valuable. Just how valuable, though, seems to be a sticking point between Barnes and Golden State.
The two sides have been locked in negotiations for a contract extension this summer with little headway. As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports, the Warriors actually made an offer to Barnes, but apparently he felt it was too low.
The Golden State Warriors delivered forward Harrison Barnes an initial four-year, $64 million contract extension proposal, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The $16 million annual offer wasn’t accepted, but appears to be a starting point in talks that could last until the Oct. 31 deadline for rookie extensions.
Wojnarowski also states that this offer was extended before Barnes switched agents, which he did earlier in the week.
$16 million per year seems to be just the right price for Barnes, if not actually a little high, so it’s surprising to hear that he turned down the offer. Perhaps he thinks he can get more from the Warriors, especially with the salary cap rising next summer, or maybe he’s betting on having a breakout season next year, which would force the Warriors to give him a more lucrative deal. Then again, all of those plans could have changed since Barnes switched agents.
Barnes can certainly improve as a player, but probably not to the point where he’s much higher on a team’s hierarchy. He’s in a perfect position, and has the opportunity to be in that position for quite a while. It’d be a shock if this were anything more than a bump in the road to what will likely be a reasonable extension with the Warriors.
(Via Yahoo Sports)
