Matt Barnes on Kevin Garnett almost joining the 'We Believe' Warriors | The Draymond Green Show

Nelly was the first one to really, you know, after my first, you know, my first years to really like, "Okay, I'm gonna give you a chance to see what you got." So I ended up beating out everyone in training camp and then two guys that had guaranteed contracts, or non-guarantees, they had contract guarantees for training camp, ended up beating them out and ended up being like the last, you know, the 14th or 15th guy. And, you know, from there it was just grinding and any chance I got, I would go in and produce. I'd go play 10 minutes, I'd have 6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and I'll, you know, guard people and make assists and make plays. So Nelly slowly but surely started trusting me enough to where by midseason I'm starting. And now they're trying to think, okay, you know, we've signed Dunleavy and Murphy to these deals. We're not really going nowhere. So, you know, I made them feel more comfortable going out and trading those two guys that, you know, that had got deals. And that's how we ended up bringing Stack and Al Harrington. Mm-hmm. From Indiana to that team. And then, you know, we tried to get our shit together a little bit and we become the We Believe team in like a month and a half. People don't, people think the We Believe team was like a whole year or crazy. They don't understand that was post-trade. And we started off shitty cuz Baron was hurt. Jack was getting in, Jack was still in trouble for some other shit he was doing. So we really hit our stride like the last 25 games. And then, you know, into the playoffs we made NBA history, but it was really a short-lived experience. But I say all that to say like it came about because the literally my college teammate Baron Davis called me, told me to come play pickup. I impressed Nelly and Nelly gave me a chance.

That's interesting. And so y'all have that last half of the year, play well, beat the Mavericks in the first round, lose to Utah in the second round. What happened the following year? Why didn't that team come back to the playoffs? Why didn't that team continue to trend upwards as opposed to just having that one year?

So before this, Golden State, you know, looking back on it now and you learn the history and you know management and everything, and people don't understand how important management is. Winning starts at the top.

Absolutely.

And as a player, you know, a younger player, you don't really realize that. You look at the players like, okay, we're gonna be straight, but winning starts at the top. So Golden State had a history of getting people in and getting them out for some reason. They never really paid the right people. They never really built anything. So, What happened was, and it's funny too, 'cause I was just with Kevin Garnett a couple days ago. He came over 'cause we're working on a couple projects, but we started talking about this shit. So we were supposed to trade Jason Richardson and our lottery, or our pick that we had. I'm not sure if it was lottery, but I think it was 'cause we ended up getting Brandon Wright. We were supposed to trade J Rich and our pick to get Kevin Garnett. And so that was, And I didn't really know how— I heard rumors until I finally had KG on the show. And then we really got into it when he was here the other day. So we were supposed to get Kevin Garnett that year, basically for Jason Richardson. So we would've added Kevin Garnett to that young team. And it was funny 'cause we were over here talking the other day, just like, man, you guys were young and wild and off the court wild too. And I loved your energy, but I didn't know if I could've hung with y'all. But it was funny just to hear from his mouth. So he really considered, he said his 3 teams were, He called it that team in Oakland, the Lakers, and the Celtics. And he ended, obviously ended up going with Celtics and winning a championship. So the play, like I said, the plan was to trade Jay Rich for Kevin Garnett. And Kevin Garnett was supposed to come to that We Believe team that following year. But to slow down a little bit, so the very beginning of that year, my mom is diagnosed with cancer November 1st, which is the beginning of the season. And she dies November 27th. So within 26 days, I find out my best friend in the world is sick and she's gone not even a month later. So for me personally, obviously I wasn't the best player on that team. That was, you know, B.D., Stack, J. Rich, Monta, you name 'em. But I was like the heart and soul of that team, you know?

For sure.

So, you know, for me to kind of go down that next season, in my head it's in the clouds, literally the first 3 or 4 months of that season. But what's crazy about that was, again, I had a breakout season with Golden State. Nelly gave me a chance. They offered me a 3-year, $12 million deal at the time. And during the playoffs, I'm hearing, you know, like, "Matt Barnes is gonna get paid. You know, he should be one of these, you know, high 20s, low 30 guys." So I'm thinking, like, so I'm hearing that all during the season. And then, you know, once the season's over, Golden State is really quick with their deal. So I think they were just trying to steal me before I can really hit the market. And, you know, the summer, you know, rest in peace, Dan Fagan was my agent at the time. He let a nice high $20 million deal go to Dallas. He was asking for more and they didn't want to give him more. I was on vacation, didn't tell me. They ended up signing Jerry Stackhouse and Devin George with the money they were gonna give me. I end up firing Dan and didn't take that deal, but ended up going back for like a $4 million deal to Golden State. So I say all that to say, when I was, when my mom died and I was finally kind of starting ready to play in January, Nelly pulled me to the side and said, "I'm glad you didn't take a long-term deal here. Your time here is up." I'm like, "What the fuck, nigga? You know my mom just died, all this shit. Like, what the fuck?" And one thing I always respect about Nelly, he was a straight shooter. There was no bullshit with him. I just didn't understand where it was coming from. And I think because I was in the midst of my mom dying, he was probably mad already in the preseason, obviously. But he couldn't really get on me or show me that because my mom had died. So I was just kind of in and out of it. Yeah. So once I really felt like I was mentally ready to really get back in the mix, he pulls me to the side and tells me what he just told me. I'm like, "What the fuck? This motherfucker right here?" And bro, I didn't really— I barely played the rest of the season. So after that, I was out of there.

That's crazy.

But I think the fact that he, you know, that he gave me the opportunity to really get my career on track, which I appreciate. But you know, as younger players, we want to get as much money as we possibly can. If someone is offering you $12 million and you're hearing, you know, high $20s, maybe even $30, I'm going to see what that is because we know how fast and small our window is. Ended up not working out, taking the $4 million deal, and he held that against me, man, unfortunately.