New Sacramento Kings addition Harrison Barnes recalled his sudden trade from the Dallas Mavericks to California's capital in what turned out to be a “crazy” trade deadline.
Barnes played the bulk of two and a half seasons with the Mavs before getting dealt only days after his former team dealt three starters to the New York Knicks for an injured Kristaps Porzingis. The 6-foot-8 North Carolina product would be the only other starter not named Luka Doncic to be moved in this experimental ride of a season:
“I went home that night. I was talking to my wife. Phone is blowing up. All of a sudden, I hear from my agent. Boom. You’re on a flight the next morning at 9 a.m.,” Barnes told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “You land. Boom. You do physicals. Friday morning I’m in the shootaround with the Sacramento Kings. That night, I’m playing the game. I’m playing at the end of the game and I don’t know the plays. I’m just playing hard. I’m running around.
“That’s just how quick things can change in 48 hours. One night I’m in Dallas and then the next night I’m in a Sacramento Kings uniform.”
Barnes has struggled in his six games with the Kings, yet to reach the 20-point mark after leading the Mavs in scoring the last two seasons. Monday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves was perhaps his toughest of the 2018-19 season, scoring only two points after going 0-for-4 from the field in 36 minutes.
The seventh-year wing will have some time to incorporate himself into this team, but he will have to do so relatively fast, as the Kings are chasing the playoffs with the season winding down.
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