Sacramento Kings small forward Harrison Barnes is the lone holdover from the USA team which won gold at the Olympics back in 2016.
Barnes is one of the leaders of the current USA Team which will compete at the FIBA World Cup in China. The swingman is embracing his leadership role and will look to carry it over to the Kings once the NBA season starts.
“I think I was always the young guy who could put his head down and work,” Barnes said, via Jason Jones of The Athletic. “It was easy to do that. I was 23, 24 on the team and trying to go do that. I think now coming here, hopefully being able to pass along some of the things I’ve seen, some of the things I’ve experienced to guys. Whether it’s (De’Aaron) Fox or Donovan (Mitchell), or Jayson (Tatum) or Kyle (Kuzma), guys who are going to be playing a lot of minutes, ‘These are things I’ve seen, things I’ve learned, take from it what you want and see if it applies to you.'
“That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned before now is just trying to pass along those same habits. Me and De’Aaron getting post work in, me and one of the other guys getting a lift in, just trying to pass along those habits and continue to push forward…I’m hoping this year, being one of the more veteran guys, hopefully pass along some of that advice, be more vocal and obviously carry that on to Sacramento.”
Harrison Barnes is the fifth-oldest player on the Kings. He'll be asked to be one of the leaders in the locker room and a go-to scorer in crunch time.
Barnes averaged 14.3 points in 28 games with the Kings last season. He's getting to practice being a leader with Team USA, so Barnes should be comfortable in that role once he gets back to Sacramento.
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