Harrison Barnes Is Back in San Antonio — But His Fantasy Value Isn't
Barnes averaged just 9.9 points and 17.7 fantasy points per game in 2025-26 before losing his starting job. He's back on a small deal, and it changes nothing for your roster.
A demoted depth forward with no path to consistent minutes.
- 9.9 pts, 2.8 reb in 77 games (2025-26 actual)
- 17.7 fantasy pts/game, our rank #248
- 31-point, 7-of-12 from three game vs Memphis (Dec 2)
- Shot under 30% from three for a full month mid-season
- Last 5 games: -4.3 FPTS vs season average
Harrison Barnes is still a San Antonio Spur, and if you're combing the waiver wire hoping that means something for fantasy, stop right there. Barnes finished 2025-26 with 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists across 77 games — good for 17.7 fantasy points per game and our No. 248 overall rank (No. 91 among forwards). Those are backup numbers, and they came after he started the year in San Antonio's opening five.
The season was a story of two halves. Barnes came out hot, drilling 42% from deep through October and November and looking like every three he launched was destined to drop. Then December hit, his shot vanished — he shot under 30% from beyond the arc for a full month — and the rest of his game got exposed. His rebounding was thin for the position, and Julian Champagnie quietly ate his lunch on the glass and from outside.
How He Lost the Job
Once Barnes cooled off, the Spurs streamlined. Champagnie moved into the starting group and finished the year at 23.4 fantasy points per game (our No. 158 overall). Keldon Johnson kept humming along on a Sixth Man of the Year-caliber run at 23.0 FPTS/G, and rookie Carter Bryant started earning real minutes. San Antonio surged to the West's No. 2 seed with that revamped rotation, and Barnes never got the job back in any meaningful way.
His peak flashed early and bright. On December 2 against Memphis — with both Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle sidelined — Barnes dropped 31 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on 7-of-12 from three. Six of his seven 20-point games came in that November-December window. When the Spurs needed him to keep the ship afloat without their stars, he delivered. That was the ceiling, and it was a brief one.
By the time his stroke returned, the rotation had moved on. Barnes was a spectator in the playoffs, logging limited minutes with only the occasional good stretch. The Spurs brought him back on a small deal anyway — he's a durable, no-drama professional and useful injury insurance on an expiring contract. But being valuable to San Antonio and being valuable to your fantasy team are two very different things.
The Fantasy Verdict
Drop him, if you somehow still have him. Barnes projects as a deep-bench forward buried behind Champagnie, Johnson and a rising Bryant, and his last five games ran 4.3 fantasy points below his own season average — hardly a rebound signal. He'll get spot minutes when Mitch Johnson wants shooting, and he could stream into relevance if injuries gut the forward group, but that's a lottery ticket, not a roster spot. In standard leagues he's a hard pass; keep the name flagged only in deep formats for the next Spurs injury wave.
