NBA Free Agency Rumors: Matt Barnes will sign with the Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings have signed forward Matt Barnes away from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Mere hours after the Kings lost Rajon Rondo to the Chicago Bulls, they pulled Matt Barnes away from the Memphis Grizzlies. Barnes is 36, so this will likely be one of his last stops in a long career.

In his second stint with the Grizzlies, Barnes was suspended for two games by the NBA for having a “physical altercation” with former New York Knicks coach and former Los Angeles Laker Derek Fisher at the home of Barnes’s estranged wife. The NBA Players Association filed a grievance to get his two-game suspension overturned, but four days later Barnes was fined $35,000 by the NBA for publicly defending his use of physical violence towards Fisher.

The past two years have been good statistically for Matt Barnes. He started a career-high number of games in his last year with the Clippers, and in one season with the Grizzlies he set career highs for rebounds per game, free throw percentage, steals per game, and blocks per game. Barnes is in the twilight of his career, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play basketball.

Despite Barnes playing well recently, I’m still wary of what he can actually bring to a franchise. He’s aging, and at this point in time this move seems like putting a band-aid over a deep gash rather than taking the time to stitch the wound. Matt Barnes will stop the bleeding for the Kings, but he can’t heal the franchise.

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