Spurs quietly make their feelings about Harrison Barnes crystal clear

As the San Antonio Spurs' series against the Minnesota Timberwolves goes down to the wire, fans are no doubt noticing a concerning Harrison Barnes trend.

Barnes has played sparingly in both of the Spurs' playoff series thus far. While he has played reasonably well in limited minutes, it's clear that his role with the team is trending in the wrong direction.

San Antonio made the decision to bench Barnes in favor of Julian Champagnie back in January, and they were red-hot after replacing him. To Barnes' credit, he played well after being moved to the bench.

Nevertheless, his minutes have steadily decreased, particularly in the playoffs, with rookie Carter Bryant also playing a factor.

Spurs quietly make their feelings about Harrison Barnes crystal clear

Just the fact that Bryant is taking minutes away from a 14-year veteran should be the writing on the wall for Barnes. Odds are that this is his final season in San Antonio.

For a team that seemed to be in desperate need of playoff experience, the Spurs have been much more reliant on youth than veterans. Fellow veteran Luke Kornet has also seen his minutes drop significantly, going from averaging 21 minutes in the regular season to 17.3 in the playoffs.

However, that was always going to be the case. His role is to provide a reliable backup option to Victor Wembanyama to keep Wemby healthy for the playoffs.

With Wembanyama playing more minutes, there is less need for Kornet. The same can be said for Barnes.

Harrison Barnes' Spurs career may soon end

With Champagnie replacing him in the starting five and Bryant eating into his minutes, Barnes' role is ever decreasing ahead of the offseason. Odds are that he won't return next season.

That's less to do with his play and more to do with what the Spurs have. Champagnie is just better on both ends of the floor at this point and is a good rebounder to boot.

That makes him the ideal stretch four for this team. If that weren't enough, Bryant projects to be better than Champagnie in just a short period of time.

Champagnie is good defensively, while Bryant projects to be great. He has also shown that he can shoot, potentially making him a candidate to start next season.

With those two, and the Spurs possibly drafting a power forward in next month's draft, bringing Barnes back just wouldn't make much sense. As a result, we're seeing him slowly be phased out of the playoff rotation.