The San Antonio Spurs are adding another veteran presence and leader to the team. In a move to help facilitate a sign-and-trade that will send former Spur DeMar DeRozan from the Chicago Bulls to the Sacramento Kings, the Spurs will receive veteran forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected pick swap with the Kings in 2031, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (who initially tweeted 2032 but corrected it soon after).
In return the Bulls will receive Chris Duarte, two second round picks, and cash consideration. It is still to be announced what exactly the Spurs are giving up, if anything, in the trade beyond absorbing cap space.
ESPN Sources with @TimBontemps: The Sacramento Kings are agreed on a sign-and-trade that will land DeMar DeRozan on a three-year deal, send Harrison Barnes to the San Antonio Spurs and Chris Duarte, two second-round picks and cash to the Chicago Bulls. pic.twitter.com/eopPkSPBvc
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2024
The Kings will also send the Spurs a 2032 unprotected pick swap, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2024
Barnes will be entering his 13th year in the NBA next season but is an iron man, having played in all 82 games each of the last two seasons while averaging 12.2 points and three rebounds for the Kings, shooting 47.4% overall and 38.7% from 3-point range on 4.7 attempts per game. He won a championship with the Warriors in 2015 and joins Chris Paul as another veteran presence with leadership qualities to help guide the Victor Wembanyama-led Spurs. At this point, it’s hard not to see the Spurs improving a pretty decent amount from just 22 wins last season. (Another reason: have you seen Wemby in France lately?)
The acquisition of Barnes comes hours after the Spurs traded away Devonte’ Graham, likely as a means to open a roster spot and release his cap hold for this exact move. Barnes has two years, $37 million remaining on his contract, which will eat up the remainder of the Spurs’ cap space, and they will also likely have to renounce any remaining cap holds, such Cedi Osman, Charles Bassey and Julian Champagnie, although that doesn’t mean they can’t bring any of them back. When all the dust is settled, they should still have the Room Exception and 2nd Room Exception to work with.
We’ll have more on what this move means for the Spurs soon, but in the meantime, welcome to San Antonio, Harrison! He has always seemed like the Spursy type.