Golden State Warriors may find itself playing through the rest of its preseason games without Harrison Barnes after the small forward suffered a right knee bone bruise in their last outing with the Denver Nuggets.
Barnes left that game in the second quarter after a collision with a Nuggets player in the team's 114–103 loss last Tuesday. His injury was first believed to be a knee sprain, but after undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it was discovered that Barnes sustained a right knee bone bruise.
Barnes was held out of team practice last Wednesday night and interim head coach Luke Walton bared that the 23-year-old forward is listed as day-to-day. He is not expected to suit up in the team's next preseason game against the Houston Rockets.
Barnes may likely spring back to action by the start of the regular season where they open their title defense against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 27.
Barnes was in the headlines recently, rejecting a four-year $64-million deal offered to him by the Warriors. As most players right now, Barnes believes that he stands to receive more next summer as a restricted free agent with huge spikes expected on the available salary cap space starting next season.
But the Warriors are not expected to totally give up on Barnes just yet, especially with the deadline for signing contract extensions moved to Nov. 2.
From now up to that date, the Warriors could come up with something better to entice Barnes, with the intent of trying to keep the team intact as much as they can.
Barnes stands to be an integral part of the Warriors this season as they try to fend off strong competition from other Western Conference squads that saw heavy roster improvements.
The list includes the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, and the Oklahoma City Thunder who will welcome back Kevin Durant who missed practically the entire 2014–15 NBA season.
