MARCH 2: The Warriors have officially signed Barnes to fill their 15th and final roster spot, the club announced today in a press release.
MARCH 1: The Warriors intend to sign free agent forward Matt Barnes to a contract, sources tell ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Barnes will fill the 15th slot on Golden State’s roster and will receive a rest-of-season contract rather than a 10-day deal, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Jose Calderon, who will clear waivers on Wednesday, had been set to sign with the Warriors, having reached an agreement with the team over the weekend. As Stein explains (via Twitter), Golden State still plans to sign Calderon as promised. However, the team will then waive him in order to sign Barnes.
The Dubs’ change of direction – from Calderon to Barnes – comes on the heels of Kevin Durant leaving Tuesday night’s game against the Wizards with a hyperextended left knee. The severity of that injury won’t be confirmed until Durant undergoes an MRI, but the fact that the Warriors are adding Barnes suggests that the club may view the injury as more than just a day-to-day issue.
Barnes, who will turn 37 next Thursday, signed a two-year deal with the Kings last summer and appeared in 54 games for the team this season. In 25.3 minutes per contest, Barnes recorded 7.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.8 APG. However, he lost his roster spot last week when Sacramento needed to cut a player in order to complete the DeMarcus Cousins trade. The Kings waived Barnes despite the fact that he had a $6.4MM player option for 2017/18.
Barnes, a Warrior from 2006 to 2008, will come with some baggage as he begins his second stint in Golden State. The UCLA product was allegedly involved in an altercation at a Chelsea nightclub in early December, and was recently booked for misdemeanor assault. He’ll have to appear in a Manhattan courtroom at a later date as a result of the charge.
Because he was waived prior to March 1, Barnes will be playoff-eligible for Golden State. Calderon will also retain his postseason eligibility as long as he’s signed and waived by the Warriors before the end of the day on Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
He’s coming home!! Our offense honestly isn’t that different from the We Believe days with Don Nelson lol, and screw Bogut
Bogut was exactly what the Warriors needed but of course Lebron has to have arguably the most stacked team of all time to win a ring.
Because we’re going to ignore the fact that the Warriors have two MVPs on their team (Curry and Durant), one of the best shooters and two-way players in the league (Thompson), and a top 3 defender in the league who can also run the offense (Green). Yup, the Cavs definitely have the most stacked team. Let’s rip LeBron for complainig to the media that his team needs help, but not Durant for creating a team straight out of a video game.
I dont even consider Curry a true superstar, he’s just a great shooter with really good ball handling. Klay is an all-star and Green is just playing with really good players. I am not even a fan of Durant but he is a superstar, a weak one.
Curry isn’t a true superstar? Can’t take you seriously.
He isn’t
I’ll say that he is a superstar in terms of how much attention he gets and how good his offensive game is. Although Dionis’ description of Curry “great shooter with really good ball handling” is spot on. Curry barely does anything defensively as they often hide him on defense. Yeah steals are great and that’s something Curry does well, but its easy when you’re always playing offball and can afford to play off of your man. Say the Cavs meet the Warriors in the Finals and the Cavs throw out a lineup of Kyrie-Korver-JR-LeBron-Love, who are they hiding Curry on? They’d probably try to hide him on Korver or JR, but he’s not going to have the ability to basically roam around on defense since they’re both good shooters.
Lebron has shooters from the starting unit to the bench, Irving,JR,Love,Frye,Shumpert,Korver,Deron,Jefferson,Derrick. Give me a break the dude has the most stacked team I have ever seen hands down.
Not sure where you’ve been JT19. Durant has been getting killed since the summer for joining the Warriors. Both of them get consistently crushed by fans
Welcome home Barnes!
Poor Calderon, probably figured he was finally going to get a legitimate shot at a ring. Gotta give props to Golden State for being honest with Calderon and living up to their agreement, even if they are going to just waive him right away. Maybe he goes to Toronto now with Lowry out? I don’t know Toronto’s roster situation (as in if they have an open spot or who would be the guy to go) but it seems like a logical fit. Don’t know any other playoff contenders that need a backup PG for the stretch run.
The Raptors have one of the best backup guards in the league in Joseph, they have no need for Calderon. In Memphis he can back up Conley and be a shooter off the bench.
Joseph isn’t a backup with Lowry out for the next 6 weeks. They’re currently playing Norman Powell at the back up point
Dang, I know Calderon is pissed the hell off.
I thought they should have taken barnes as soon as the kings dropped him. I liked Briante Weber and would have kept him, but that ship has sailed.
Depth at the 3 spot is needed right now so that Durant can get some rest before the postseason and Ian Clark can play backup point behind livingston if McCaw is filling the 2 guard backup at the moment. There is no one behind Iguoadala at the moment McCaw is too small to guard SF.
If KD was only going to be out a few days to a week, Warriors could’ve signed Calderon and let McCaw handle SF until KD came back. Warriors preparing for the worst by signing Barnes.
Atlanta could still use a backup PG
McCaw is a guard bro, he would get smoked playing SF what are you talking about.
What he said was “If KD was going to be out only a few days or a week”. If that was the case then they would’ve certainly kept Calderon & could’ve played McCaw at the backup 3. Iggy’s minutes would’ve went up but we’re talking 3, maybe 4 games in a week’s time.
Mccaw is 6’7? He literally just started at sf tonight, why would you think he’s in capable of playing the 3?
The hawks have an open roster spot and we’re looking to trade for a third pg
*Barnes will be playoff-eligible for the Warriors, not Kings.
Thanks, that’s been fixed.
Not only is he good insurance for Durant but at least he brings some grit to this Golden State team who with Durant out there just look like a jumpshooting team with no toughness to them. Barnes will flourish.
You’re exactly right i like the way you think another thing people don’t realize is during the warriors championship run the last two years who are the only two teams they didn’t have to play answer spurs and clippers
I wasn’t sure if the Warriors could’ve beaten Spurs with Durant because Spurs have size and veterans and a hall of fame coach. Warriors do have better backcourt than Spurs but in the playoffs it’s more of a half court game and Spurs would beat Warriors up inside
He brings good character and behavior to the locker room.
So Divac is trying to build a “culture” while every other team is trying to build a winner.
Isn’t barnes the lowlife who thinks he can control his ex wife’s personal life? Isn’t this the same guy who would be in jail for abuse if he wasn’t an NBA player? Please correct me if I’m wrong as I’ve been confused before. If so, why are we signing this scrub?
Because he’s the best available player to replace Kevin Durant.