Few players in the NBA have gotten off to a better start to the 2021-22 season than Harrison Barnes, who has started his 10th season in the league with a bang. Barnes has a 51.4/51.5/78.3 shooting split through four games for the 2-2 Sacramento Kings, averaging 26.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.
Barnes will cool off at some point, but for the time being, he is consumed in flames and is tied for ninth in the league in scoring per game with last year’s MVP Nikola Jokic. Barnes’ hot streak did not end on Wednesday night, as the Phoenix Suns learned the hard way when he had 22 points, nine rebounds, and four assists against them.
The Kings had a sideline out for the final possession of regulation, tied at 107-107 with under two seconds to go, and executed an action to get Barnes and Buddy Hield moving off of each other so De’Aaron Fox could pick the best option. He chose Barnes as he approached the ball rather than Hield, who was working towards the middle of the floor, and he was correct.
Devin Booker put up a valiant fight, but there was little he could do once Barnes rose and fired, hitting down the game’s winner on the road. It’s an important win for the Kings as a whole as they try to figure out how to finish these types of games, which is the next step in becoming a legitimate playoff contender. We’ll see how long Barnes can maintain this level of production, but until he shows symptoms of slowing down, Sacramento will continue to feed him and see how far he can carry them.
