The San Antonio Spurs may be on the precipice of advancing to the Western Conference Finals, but they're doing so with essentially no on-court impact from former Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes.
Barnes hit a new low on Tuesday during Game 5 of their second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, having been removed from the second-half rotation at the absolute worst time given the 33-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Harrison Barnes hits a new low right before free agency
Barnes has been a fairly consistent role player for the majority of his career, including at the Spurs where he started all 82 games last season, along with 52 this season before he was demoted to the bench.
That bench demotion has gone a step further in these playoffs after Barnes averaged nearly 26 minutes during the regular season. He's now averaging just 10.1 minutes through San Antonio's first 10 playoff games, ranked 10th on the team and behind the likes of Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson and rookie Carter Bryant.
Things are only getting worse for the 2015 NBA champion who played less than four minutes in the first-half of Tuesday's Game 5, recording one rebound and one assist without taking a single field-goal attempt.
More notable was the fact Barnes didn't play a single second in the second-half, having now played less than 10 minutes in four of the first five games in this series, and only 15 minutes twice through the playoffs to date.
Barring injury higher up in the rotation, it's impossible to see how Barnes recovers from his current plight despite entering the playoffs as easily the most experienced postseason player on the San Antonio roster.
Harrison Barnes stapled to the bench for the first time in his career
The most unfamiliar aspect to this for Barnes is the fact he's never been through this experience during his NBA career. He immediately entered the league as a starter for the Warriors who averaged over 25 minutes, a number that rose to an extraordinary 38.4 during his first playoff campaign in his rookie year.
Barnes has never averaged less than 25 minutes in a season, nor less than 22 in any of his previous five playoff outings. This is an unusual situation for him and not one that he would have envisioned even a couple months ago.
The 33-year-old is mature and experienced enough not to let this deter him from offering leadership and experience in the locker room, but one has to think that his only chance of becoming a 20+ minute rotation player in the NBA again would be by departing the Spurs this offseason.
Unfortunately for him, his complete lack of playoff impact means Barnes is going to have to take significantly less than the $19 million he's making with San Antonio this season.
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