Golden State Warriors: Durant’s Injury Leads to Barnes’ Signing
In wake of Kevin Durant’s knee injury suffered on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors are expected to sign Matt Barnes for the remainder of the season.
Golden State Warriors’ fans were given quite a scare on Tuesday night, when they watched All-Star forward Kevin Durant hyperextend his left knee and leave the game against the Washington Wizards, very early in the first quarter. Warriors’ center Zaza Pachulia was thrown to the ground and fell into Durant, whose leg bent backward from the contact.
Durant limped and momentarily jogged down the court, but eventually went to the locker room and didn’t return to the game. The Warriors dropped the game 112-108 to Washington, falling to 50-10 on the season. Durant did not score in his lone minute on the floor, ending his streak of 562 consecutive games scoring in double-figures.
With Durant’s immediate future in question, the Warriors again hit the free agent market in the late hours of Tuesday night. After letting Briante Weber‘s 10-day contract expire, the team was expected to sign veteran guard Jose Calderon. The 35-year-old in his 12th season will still reportedly be signed as the Warriors honor their pact, but he will be immediately waived to make room for a player to fill Durant’s spot. That player will be Matt Barnes, who was released by the Sacramento Kings last week, and he will be signed for the remainder of the season..
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If Durant can not go for a while, that would have left Andre Iguodala as the team’s lone natural small forward. Rather than having someone play out of position, Barnes gives them a veteran that is more than familiar with the position.
Barnes turns 36 next week, and is in his 14th NBA season out of UCLA. He previously had a two-season stint with the Warriors from 2006 to 2008. Over 149 games (41 starts) with Golden State those two seasons, he averaged 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds. This season with the Kings, Barnes averaged 7.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 54 games while continuing to play his tenacious brand of defense.
The forward was part of the 2006-2007 “We Believe” Warriors, along with players like Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson. The team, an eighth seed, upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round, but couldn’t continue the Cinderella run, losing to the Utah Jazz in five games in the second round.
After the announcement of the signing on Tuesday night, Barnes made a couple of social media posts, recalling that special Warriors’ team of a decade ago. The first was an Instagram post including a picture of Barnes, with Davis and Jackson, from that season.
In another Instagram post, he added a screenshot of a conversation between himself and Jackson.
Losing Durant would obviously be a huge blow to the Warriors. He’s the team’s leading scorer, averaging 25.8 points per game on 53.8 percent shooting. He also leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 8.4 per contest.
The team does still have the firepower to maintain their top spot in the NBA, however. With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both averaging over 20 points and Draymond Green still acting as one of the best defenders and most versatile all-around players in the league, the Warriors are still a team to be reckoned with. The San Antonio Spurs are currently four games back of Golden State in the standings, sitting at 45-13.
Next: The Golden Era for the Warriors
The former NBA MVP has had an MRI already, but the results won’t be released until tomorrow.