AMES – Former Little Cyclone Harrison Barnes officially signed with the Dallas Mavericks. We caught up with Barnes and his new coach at his basketball camp held at Ames High. Local 5’s Jordan Furbee has more.
Harrison Barnes woke up Thursday morning a very rich man.
Barnes officially signed his four-year, $94-million deal with the Dallas Mavericks, meaning his time with Golden State is history.
But as you can imagine, Warriors’ logos and gear were all over Ames High; memories of an amazing stretch for the former Iowa Mr. Basketball.
“You know we had a great four year run at Golden State,” said Barnes. “At the beginning we set out to win a championship, we accomplished that, fell a little bit short this year, but we accomplished a lot winning 73 games, so it was a tough feat. We didn’t think we were going to get it sometimes, but we were able to get through and when you get to the finals, it’s such a long journey just to get there, but to be able to be so close to winning is tough, you definitely think about that especially for the rest of your career, but we accomplished a lot this season.”
Now the focus turns to Dallas where he’ll team up with Dirk Nowitzki, one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Barnes’ new coach, Rick Carlisle is ecstatic.
“I’ve always liked Harrison’s game,” said Carlisle. “And the fact that he’s only 24-years old is exciting for us, because we’ve had a veteran team and we need to get our team younger so he becomes a major foundation piece for our rebuilding of a championship team over the next several years, so it’s a great situation for him, it’s a great situation for us.”
“You know I can’t wait to get started and get to know Dirk, said Barnes. “He’s accomplished so much in his career. I think in the next couple years, he’ll probably hit 30,000 points in this league, which is ridiculous. So I just look forward to learning as much as I can from him and playing with a Hall of Famer.
Not many 24-year olds can boast the resume Barnes does, but even though he’s headed to a new team, HB hopes to continue the winning in Dallas.
“I’ve been fortunate to now play for two championship coaches in Coach Kerr and Coach Carlisle and to be able to win a championship in my first four years, to be able to be on the Olympic team this summer, I’ve just been very fortunate and I just want to continue to learn from all the things I’ve done and continue to build.”
