Sacramento Kings: The International Summer of Harrison Barnes
Kings small forward Harrison Barnes has traveled an obscene amount of miles this offseason. We chronicle the long summer of the franchises highest-paid player.
Last season ended with uncertainty regarding Harrison Barnes’ future with the Sacramento Kings. He had been traded to the California capital in February and had only played 28 games in a Kings uniform. He was set for a nice payday should he choose to opt-in to his player option for the ’19-’20 season.
Before he was set to make that decision, Barnes traveled to India to help promote the growth of basketball, as well as the upcoming India Games 2019 in which the Kings will be participating. Barnes made the trip just two weeks after Sacramento’s season ended and shared his experiences on Instagram, allowing followers to have an insight in to his journey.
His arrival back in the States marked the beginning of the business portion of Barnes’ summer. On June 18th, news broke that Barnes had declined the $25.1 million player option, making him an unrestricted free agent. The very next day, Barnes posted a series of pictures on Instagram of his appearance at and partnership with a local burger chain in Sacramento, hinting at a return to the Kings.
https://www.instagram.com/p/By6lGigBCIe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
On the first day of free agency, Barnes cashed in. He re-signed with Sacramento, securing himself an $85 million contract paid over the span of four years. The Kings front-loaded the contract, agreeing to pay Barnes $24 million in the first year, that number declining by $2 million each season thereafter.
For the Kings, they had their small forward of the future locked up at roughly market value. For Barnes, he received long-term stability while taking a first-year pay cut of just $1 million.
The wild summer for Harrison Barnes was just beginning, as Team USA duty called. Luckily for Barnes, many of the National Team’s practices were on the West Coast, in Las Vegas and Southern California.
The travel required for the games and FIBA tournament, however, is extensive. Team USA traveled to Melbourne, Australia for a series of exhibition games, before making their way to Beijing for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
After the conclusion of international play, Barnes will have just a couple of weeks of freedom before he is set to report to Sacramento Kings training camp. A couple of weeks after that, the Kings will head to India for a set of preseason games, marking Barnes third trip to Asia in less than six months.
If you’re keeping score at home:
Sacramento to Mumbai: 8,330 miles
Mumbai to Sacramento: 8,330 miles
Los Angeles to Melbourne: 7,950 miles
Melbourne to Beijing: 5,670 miles
Beijing to Sacramento: 5,900 miles
Sacramento to Mumbai: 8,330 miles
Mumbai to Sacramento: 8,330 miles
Next. Why Are The Kings Still Paying Matt Barnes?. dark
That’s 52,840 miles. That’s enough to circle the entire planet twice, and then some. Add in the fact that the Kings will travel the third-most miles of any team this season (52,000), and Harrison Barnes is looking at 105,000 flight miles in under a calendar year.