30 Unknown Facts That Every Fan Should Know About Harrison Barnes

28 May 2019, 2:17 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Harrison Barnes, currently playing for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA), is known to have been a part of United States national team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, where it won the gold medal. He averaged 4.3 points, and 2.1 rebounds per game in eight games. Here are a few important facts about the American professional basketball player:

He was born Harrison Bryce Jordan Barnes on May 30, 1992, in Ames, Iowa, to Ronnie Harris and Shirley Barnes. He and his sister, Jordan, were raised by a single parent his mother after his father left them to take care of ailing grandparents but never returned.
Barnes is married to Brittany Johnson, whom he met during his time playing for the Golden State Warriors. They got engaged in August 2016 and tying the knot at a star studded Oceanside ceremony in July 2017, in Newport, Rhode Island.
He attended Ames High School where he played high school basketball and led them to two Iowa 4A State Championship in his junior and senior years without losing a single game.
In his senior year he averaged 27.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 assists and was selected to the USA Today All-USA First Team. He ended his school career as their all-time leading scorer with 1,787 points.
He won numerous accolades as prep at Ames High School, including The Sporting News’ 2009 National High School Athlete of the Year, USA Today’s 2010 National Player of the Year.
On January 20, 2010, he was selected to the 2010 Junior National Select Team, for the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit game at Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, where he was the leading scorer with 27 points. Team USA won 101 to World 97.
At the 2010 McDonald’s All-American Game, he led the West team with 18 points to a 107-104 victory and was named co-Most Valuable Player. He also won the MVP award at 2010 Jordan Brand Classic.
On March 10, 2010, Barnes won the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year Award, which goes to the nation’s top player. He completed nine advanced placement credit before graduating from high school.
He brought the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy home to Ames, Iowa, over July 04th Weekend, where he served as the Grand Marshal of the Ames July 4th Parade. July 13 is declared ‘Harrison Barnes Day’ in Ames, Iowa, by the Mayor and was handed the key to the city.
As the top rated basketball player in the recruiting class of 2010, he was not short on scholarship offers from all colleges across the country. On November 13 he opted to attend the University of North Carolina to play for the legendary Tar Heels under Coach Roy Williams.

Barnes made his debut for the Tar Heels on August 11, 2010, in an exhibition game against Commonwealth Bank Giants in Bahamas. In two games he averaged 22 points and 6.5 rebounds per game with 10 three-pointers.
On November 1, 2010, Barnes was selected to ‘The Associated Press’ preseason men’s basketball All-American team. He became the first freshman to make the list since voting began before the 1986-87 season.
Barnes made his college debut against Lipscomb and scored 14 points with 4 rebounds in an 80-66 opening win of the season. He went on to record his first career double-double on December 11, 2010, when he scored 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 96-91 win over Long Beach State University.
On March 12, 2011, he became the first freshman in an ACC Tournament game to record 40 points when he scored 40 points and 8 rebounds against Clemson.
As a freshman he averaged 15.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists with 29.4 minutes of play time in 37 games to earn ACC Rookie of the Year honor and place in the All-ACC Second Team.
Barnes was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft as the seventh overall pick. At the end of the season he made it All-Rookie first team and was placed sixth in NBA Rookie of the Year voting.
He was chosen to play as a starter for Team Hill, in the BBVA Compass Rising Star Challenge. He recorded 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in 23 minutes in the team’s wins.
With the arrival of Andre Iguodala, Barnes was used as a reserve player and ended the year starting in just 24 of 78 games he played. He averaged 9.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in the season.
During the 2013-14 season, he played host to ‘Make-a-Wish,’ child during the season hosting 14 year old Des Moines, IA, native Cole Vitiritto and his family for several days.
On April 2, 2014, in the game against Phoenix Suns, though he made two defensive mistakes in the final minutes, he redeemed himself with a running shot in the lane with a second remaining, lifting the Warriors to a 107-106 win.

He is a big supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and serves as a board member for the Boys & Girls Club of Oakland. He is an honorary coach for the NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Sports Basketball Game at NBA All-Star.
On May 27, 2015, in the decisive Game 5 of Western Conference Finals against Houston Rockets, Barnes scored 24 points with 7 rebounds to help his team to the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years.
Barnes recorded 8.8 points with 5.8 rebounds per game in the six games series of 2015 NBA Finals, defeating Cleveland Cavaliers, by 4 games to 2, for his first NBA championship.
Despite the Warriors reaching the finals of 2016 NBA Championship, Barnes was not at his best of form. He only shot 16 percent in the last three games for Warriors to lose the series in seven games after going up 3-1 in the series. He averaged 9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in the playoffs.
On July 09, 2016, Barnes signed a four-year, $94 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks and in his second game of the season, he recorded a career high 31 points in a 98-106 loss to the Rockets.
He bettered that mark with career high 34 points in 86-75 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks, on November 06, 2016. He went on to record 30 plus points seven more times in the season.
On November 22, 2017, in the game against Memphis Grizzlies, Barnes banked a 30-footer as the horn sounded and the Mavericks escaped with a 95-94 victory. He led with 22 points, nine of the coming in the fourth quarter to help Dallas thwart a late Memphis comeback.
At the end of the 2017-18, season he set his personal best of eight double-doubles and averaged 18.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2 assists per game with 34.2 minutes of play time in 77 games.
On February 6, 2019, while in the middle of a game for Dallas against the Charlotte Hornets, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Zach Randolph and Justin Jackson.
Barnes is Christian by faith and a teetotaler. He had his first sip of alcohol after winning the 2015 NBA Finals.