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San Antonio Spurs veteran forward Harrison Barnes is the proud owner of a 14-karat gold, 240-stone NBA championship ring from his days with the Golden State Warriors. But as Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and several of his teammates prepared to play in their first NBA playoffs this month, Barnes didn’t take his cherished title ring out of the box to show his team as motivation. The way Barnes looked at it, the Spurs’ history as five-time NBA champions was motivation enough.
“I told them we are here to get our own,” Barnes said when asked if he has shown his Spurs teammates his NBA championship ring. “When you look at our practice facility, there’s three windows that are open for trophies — if that ain’t motivation enough. That let’s you know that, ‘There’s some extra space. What do you want to do?’ “So, it’s an opportunity for guys to chase it. It’s not just, ‘Oh, you get a championship and it’s done.’ Or, ‘Oh, we won 50 games.’ OK, well, there is a group that did it for 15-plus years. ‘Oh, we got one championship.’ OK, there’s five up there. What are you doing year in and year out, not just one moment? How do you pursue that excellence going forward?”
Barnes acknowledged that going to the NBA Finals in two of his first four seasons and being in the playoffs in each of his first four campaigns spoiled him. Since leaving the Warriors in 2016, however, the 13-year NBA veteran has not returned to the Finals while playing for the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and now the Spurs. “You absolutely [feel spoiled], especially as a young player when you have that type of quicker success,” Barnes said. “You go to the playoffs my rookie year, you go to the second round. Go to the second year, we’re losing in the first round. Then you go to back-to-back Finals. You have a sense that if you’re around guys who know how to win, the road map is there. “Yes, we have great talent, but we also had the knowledge of how to win and wanting to win. Then I always say that I got a chance to experience what the [elite] NBA was like. After that, it was just really understanding it is extremely hard to win consistently in this league.”
Neemias Queta: “Most influential teammate? I can go with Harrison Barnes. He’s a great vet. I had him in Sacramento from the beginning. He was always asking what I needed and was always a really good guy to ask for advice. Al has also been that type of veteran for us over the last couple of years here, and I’ve learned a lot from watching him go at it night in and night out. Usually, I tend to lean toward older guys like that. Back in Portugal, I had Carlos Andrade. He was my vet over there too when I played in Portugal, and he taught me a lot about how to be a professional, how to handle all types of situations, and how to take care of your body. That’s why those guys play for so many years. You learn from them.”
Harrison Barnes and De'Aaron Fox are in the running for annual NBA awards that celebrate values the Spurs want their players to uphold. The league announced Tuesday that Barnes is one of six finalists for its Sportsmanship Award and that Fox is one of 12 finalists for the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award.
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NBA Communciations PR: The NBA today announced the finalists for the 2025-26 NBA Sportsmanship Award. The annual honor recognizes the player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. Current NBA players will select the winner from these six finalists (one finalist from each NBA division): Derrick White, TJ McConnell, Bam Adebayo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Al Horford, Harrison Barnes.
Dan Weiss: Harrison Barnes (ankle) has been ruled out. His 364 consecutive games streak will come to an end tonight as he misses his first game since December 4, 2021. Julian Champagnie (163 games) currently has the second longest consecutive games streak behind Mikal Bridges (615 games).
Bub Carrington does not regard his newest accomplishment as a big deal. But the numbers reveal how rare his achievement is. On Thursday night, when his Washington Wizards host the Denver Nuggets, he will play in his 125th consecutive regular-season NBA game. Streaks like Carrington’s don’t happen often. He owns the NBA’s fourth-longest active consecutive games streak, trailing only the New York Knicks’ Mikal Bridges and the San Antonio Spurs’ Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie, according to Sportradar.
Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: You’ve been a staple of the Jordan Brand family for a long time. Looking back to your childhood, was there a specific pair of Air Jordans that was your “holy grail”—and did you ever actually get your hands on them? Harrison Barnes: That’s funny, man. I told MJ, man, when I committed to Carolina, the one pair of shoes that I wanted to wear were the 10’s. They used to have a picture when you used to walk in the facility, you used to see Raymond Felton wearing those. And I remember I wanted them and he was like, ‘Yeah, man, you gotta make a Final Four before you get ’em.’ Those were for sure my favorite Jordan’s to this day.
Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: Last time we spoke, we discussed the “youth movement” in San Antonio. Now, as the veteran anchor for this group, you’re mentoring even more young talent like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. How would you describe your process for leading this specific locker room and helping these guys find their footing in the league? Harrison Barnes: I think the biggest thing for us is just trying to cultivate a locker room where everyone has equity in what we’re doing. I think this season we’ve had so many different guys step up, allowing us to get wins. We talk about depth all the time. I think guys really being a part of that, really stepping up into different roles of the season. So I feel like everyone is engaged in what we’re doing. I think that’s the biggest thing.
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Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: The Spurs seem to have a “green thumb” for cultivating elite young talent, from Wemby to now Dylan Harper. Given that Dylan is navigating the learning curve of an NBA point guard, what have you noticed about his poise and his ability to handle the responsibilities of that position so early in his career? Harrison Barnes: I think obviously just his poise when he’s out on the floor. I think the point guard position obviously is a deep position in this league and especially coming as young guys, a lot of different things you have to manage, but I think he’s been able to balance different usage, different coverages, different responsibilities on the court as the season’s gone on as a young player within, just twenty games. And obviously he was hurt during camp and hurt a little bit in the summer, so he hasn’t had the normal process that most people have had, but I think he’s been able to adjust on the fly and it’s been a great learning experience for him.
A 1997 study found it worked: Mental practice, when structured with vivid, multi-sensory cues, can be as effective as physical practice for improving free-throw shooting accuracy in trained players. Researchers like Wendy Suzuki at NYU have shown that mental imagery activates many of the same neural pathways as physical movement. Simply put, it’s reps for your nervous system. The examples of MJ and Kobe were helpful as a coach in establishing credibility with players in their 20s with different ranges of experience with mental skills. Harrison Barnes idolized both players growing up and bought in right away. “So how do we do it?” he asked. “Tomorrow at 4 p.m., when you get to the arena, go out onto the court,” I told him. “Into the crowd, even. Put in your headphones and listen to the MP3 I’m going to send you.” The audio file was five minutes and 40 seconds long and featured my voice guiding him through a visualization (or, better termed, imagery because we also wanted to incorporate taste, touch and smell).
Paul Garcia: In the win vs Toronto: Wemby 24 pts, 15 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk Castle 22 pts Barnes 18 pts, 5 ast Devin 15 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast Harper 11 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast Keldon 10 pts Champagnie 9 pts, 9 reb, 1 blk Spurs were a +13 from the FT line
“I’m not going to be perfect, but I just want to learn every day from the vets and the guys around me, like De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes. Even a guy like Wemby, Steph Castle. Just learn as much as I can from everyone. I’m new. I’m going to be that guy with full energy, running around the gym and just trying to understand the game better. And as I’m getting better every day, that would be a pretty successful rookie year. I want to just go out there and show I belong.”
