Harrison Barnes resisted the notion that he should give former agent Jeff Wechsler the standard 4% commission before their parting of ways, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports (Twitter link). It’s unclear how much commission Barnes has agreed to give new agent Jeff Schwartz. Wechsler, in negotiations with the Warriors, had reportedly asked for more than the $16MM annually the team offered before Barnes let him go, and it would be surprising if Barnes found Wechsler not to be aggressive enough in talks with the club, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group surmises. See more on the Warriors and Barnes:
- Lowe doesn’t envision Barnes ending up with a max deal (Twitter link), but Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com thinks it won’t be hard for him to come up with $20MM salaries if he hits free agency next summer, given the rising cap and his ability to defend opposing power forwards. That would be right around Barnes’ projected max of $20.4MM. Some in the Warriors organization feel guilt over the way the team failed to properly develop Barnes earlier in his career, Strauss writes.
- Barnes has more value to the Warriors if they sign him to an extension than if they don’t, in part because it would clear a hurdle to a sign-and-trade that brings Kevin Durant to Golden State next summer, as Kawakami details. The Warriors would nonetheless be willing to pass on an extension if Barnes wants much more than $16MM, Kawakami opines, believing that the sides will instead settle somewhere around $16MM just as the deadline is closing in.
- The presence of Draymond Green, whom the Warriors re-signed for five years and $82MM this summer, serves as a roadblock to Barnes ever hitting his ceiling as a player for Golden State, argues Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM.
- Barnes’ apparent rejection of the Warriors’ offer validates the decision the Hornets made to sign Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to a four-year, $52MM extension, posits Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, who doesn’t believe the Hornets would trade Kidd-Gilchrist straight up for Barnes if the idea were ever broached (All Twitter links).