Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2025-26 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, no players who were traded away, and none of the deep bench centers, since they were both irrelevant and are now all gone).
Harrison Barnes
2025-26 stats: 77 games, 25.8 MPG, 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 38.8 3FG%, 4.6 3PA
Contract Status: 1 year, $8 million remaining (no options)
Age: 34
Barnes came into his second season in San Antonio entrenched as a starter and, initially, proved he deserved his spot. He started the season well, posting impressive numbers in October and November for a Spurs team that proved more ready to win than anticipated, even as it battled injuries. Before his inexplicable December-January slump, Barnes was shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc and earning praise on every broadcast because every three-pointer he took looked like it was going in. He was also doing the things expected of him outside his main role as a floor-spacer adequately, but the shooting was his main contribution.
Then December came, and as the days went by, Barnes started to look fallible from outside and not as springy on his drives and on defense. As the new year came in, Barnes was unrecognizable as a shooter, which made the general mediocrity of his other contributions stand out. His subpar rebounding for the position in particular was exposed by Julian Champagnie, who put an emphasis on cleaning the glass and was a more dynamic shooter to boot. Barnes was demoted to the bench, his role declined, and the Spurs might have considered moving on from him, using his expiring contract to get an upgrade at the deadline, if not for the cap constraints adding salary would have represented this summer.
Eventually, Barnes regained his previous form as a shooter, but by that point things had changed. Champagnie as a starter made it harder for opponents to put a center on Wembanyama, something that happened even when Barnes was hitting shots consistently. Keldon Johnson was slowing down a little but was still on a Sixth Man of the Year run. Carter Bryant was still getting minutes, and by that point starting to actually deserve them. More importantly, the Spurs were dominating opponents on both ends with their new starting unit and rotation, destroying teams on their way to the second seed in the West.
Barnes didn’t have a large role in the playoffs once San Antonio got there and didn’t make much of an impact on his limited minutes despite the occasional good stint. In the end, he was a serviceable backup who always stayed ready to play and was a positive locker room presence.
Looking ahead
In a way, Harrison Barnes’ role change is the perfect representation of the shift in expectations for the 2025/26 Spurs. The veteran forward was a perfectly fine placeholder for a team that probably went into the season with playoff aspirations, but once it became obvious that San Antonio was ready to contend, the margins started to matter and streamlining the rotation became a necessity.
The coaching staff did that last season and the front office got an upgrade this summer, so why is Barnes still in San Antonio? There seem to be many reasons. First, Barnes proved to be a consummate professional after arriving from Sacramento, on the court, in the locker room, and as a citizen. He consistently made charitable donations since his arrival in the city. His quiet leadership was likely valuable to a very young roster filled with high-profile lottery picks, a status Barnes once possessed. He proved to be extremely durable and always eager to play, never complaining about his role. It’s not a surprise the Spurs were willing to bring him back on a small deal, even though they have too many forwards on their roster now.
The other reason is that Barnes can still play. He struggled in a tiny role in the postseason but finished the regular season averaging 39 percent from beyond the arc despite shooting under 30 percent for an entire month. He’s neither a bruiser who can guard bigger players and rebound nor a ball handler who offers secondary creation, but he knows his role and tries his hardest on defense. As the months passed last year, he wasn’t as effective using the change of pace on his drives to create room to finish at the rim, but he’s a crafty player. There are much worse options as injury insurance and as a depth piece in case of a trade that depletes the forward rotation.
Barnes could also be trade bait himself on his expiring contract, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him leave San Antonio next summer, unless he takes the minimum, as the team gets more expensive. If he does, he’ll still be a success story, considering how productive he was and the fact that the Spurs were paid to acquire him. For now, he’s still on the roster, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get some minutes when Mitch Johnson needs shooting.
Top performance
December 2 vs. Memphis Grizzlies: 31 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 7-12 3PFG
Six of Barnes’ seven games scoring 20 points or more happened between November and December, as he looked spry and deadly from beyond the arc. In his best game of the season, he helped a Spurs team missing Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle take down the Grizzlies. The early stretch in which Wemby was out but San Antonio kept winning proved that they had a strong roster and not just a superstar, and Barnes was a big part of keeping the team afloat during that time.
Final Score: C+
Up next: Julian Champagnie
Previous Reviews
