In late March, thousands of fans were turned away from a Sacramento Kings home game against the Dallas Mavericks due to protests over the killing of Stephon Clark. Mavericks swingman Harrison Barnes discussed his perspective on the protests in a new interview with The Undefeated.
“It was one of those games where you could tell something bigger was going on,” Barnes said. “It was kind of like you’re playing, you’re competing, but at the end of the day you know something bigger is going on in this city. And I think that was important for us to realize, understand, why people were upset, how tragic and unfortunate it is, the work that needs to be done to be better about it in the future.”
Barnes was candid during his conversation with Marc J. Spears. He expressed his gratitude for the platform NBA players are given to speak out on political issues.
“We can essentially be a platform to bring awareness to certain issues like the shooting of Stephon Clark,” Barnes said. “We can team up with organizations who are doing great work…can team up with activists who are doing great work. And we can say, ‘Look, you know what? We may not have the solution as basketball players. We may not know a whole lot or be experts about these specific topics. But these people have been on the ground since day one. Been putting in years of work, years of good community gatherings and awareness meetings, and trying to change the community for the better.’”
He also discussed a number of other topics. He said he keeps up with the Warriors and is thankful for the experience he had in Golden State. After the success he experienced with the Warriors, he said missing the playoffs is “the worst.”
The Dancing Video
Barnes also shared his perspective on the video of Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving dancing at his wedding last summer, which went viral.
“So the next day, we go to brunch and one of my boys touched me, like, ‘Yo, the video is everywhere.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He’s like, ‘The video at the wedding,’” Harrison Barnes told @TheUndefeated on the Steph-Kyrie dance-off. https://t.co/pQxUYegSsp #NBA
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) April 10, 2018
“At the time I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal. No way,” Barnes said. “I saw it when it happened live, but I’m thinking I don’t see any cameras, no one is recording anything, no one’s going to be seeing this.”
Needless to say: someone was recording, and Barnes decided not to ask him to take it down.
Barnes, who will soon turn 26, is averaging 18.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the lowly Mavericks.
