Harrison Barnes was apparently done in by the world’s most dangerous nap.
The San Antonio Spurs forward Barnes had to sit out Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pa. That ended a very impressive iron-man streak by Barnes of 364 consecutive games played.
It was later revealed by the Associated Press why Barnes was finally forced to sit. Apparently, the 33-year-old veteran woke up from a pregame nap on Tuesday with a sore right ankle. Barnes then proceeded to report his sore ankle to the medical staff upon awakening and was ruled out against the 76ers as a result (with the Spurs going on to win in a 131-91 blowout).
Barnes played in the first 60 games of the season for San Antonio (whom he joined in 2024) and had also appeared in all 82 games in each of the previous three NBA seasons as well. On top of that, Barnes had played in the last 58 games of the 2021-22 campaign (with his last missed game coming all the way back on Dec. 4, 2021 when he was with the Sacramento Kings).
The former NBA champion Barnes has had a fairly modest role for the the Spurs this season, averaging 10.2 points over 26.9 minutes per game. But Barnes’ iron-man streak had certainly taken on a life of its own, especially since he had yet to miss a game while in San Antonio … at least until Tuesday.
New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges still currently holds the NBA’s longest active iron-man streak at a rather staggering 617 straight games played. But Bridges may want to be wary of naps from here as they have now felled both Barnes and some notable MLB All-Stars as well.
