NEW YORK – Harrison Barnes finally lifted his feet out of a bucket of ice water, removed the bags of ice from his knees, looked around the Dallas Mavericks’ nearly empty locker room, and slowly began to grasp what it feels like to be the franchise-player-in-waiting while the current face of the organization – and a future Hall of Famer – is sidelined with an injury.

For well over 10 minutes, Barnes had answered several questions about going from the guy hoping for scraps in Golden State to being the first in line to eat in Dallas. Barnes was respectful, and never appeared annoyed even as he has likely heard some variation of these inquiries ever since he signed a four-year, $94 million contract last summer that should keep him with the Mavericks after the franchise’s most decorated player, Dirk Nowitzki, has retired. Though Barnes, 24, might now be the guy for whom the bus will wait, it was time to go and he hadn’t even showered.

Standing near the doorway, Nowitzki looked back at Barnes and said, “Waiting on you, kid.”

Nowitzki was speaking of the team bus to the airport, but the comment could also reflect the expectations of a star turn for Barnes from the time he was a heralded freshman arrival at the University of North Carolina. Now the Mavericks are hopeful that, in his fifth season, Barnes’ time has finally come.

“The expectations, I think at a young age, they became more than I was ready for. I just got destroyed,” Barnes told The Vertical. “Media destroyed me. The expectation I put on myself, I got destroyed by that. … Somehow the expectations were always too much and I had to learn and grow as a player and as a person to just embrace the process. Not everything happens fast. I think winning a championship allowed me to understand the idea of patience, of trusting the process, how long it takes to get somewhere. And coming into this situation, in my four years of being in the NBA, I’ve never been a focal point. So it’s going to take some time. I have to embrace that process. My teammates, my coaches have been phenomenal in giving me the patience to let me work through these things and support me in any way possible.”

Barnes certainly has incentive for a breakout season following a summer in which he received regular doses of disappointment. The Warriors ended the best regular season in NBA history as a footnote in LeBron James’ legacy after blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. In his exit interview with the Warriors, Barnes was informed the team would be pursuing other alternatives in free agency. After the Mavericks rescued him with a dream contract, he went to the Olympics in Brazil, where he not only failed to get much playing time but also had to watch Kevin Durant, his replacement in Golden State, lead Team USA to a gold medal.

“That was the most motivation I’ve ever had playing basketball,” Barnes told The Vertical. “Between losing in the Finals, how free agency worked out, leaving that team, the motivation behind all of that, and then in turn, going to [Team] USA and not playing – it just motivated me this season to just come out and just be aggressive. There are a lot of emotions that go into that summer. Some of it, I still haven’t sat down and processed, because some of it is just painful. But it’s definitely stoked a fire in me to just play.”

The Mavericks are starting to see what an inspired Barnes can do, even if it’s just resulted in a 2-7 record. He’s being fed, some nights force-fed, and is scoring at a rate more than double his career average (22.3 points per game) while already notching the two highest-scoring nights of his career. While Barnes is moving forward, the wounds of the past remain.

Most of what occurred last summer was beyond Barnes’ control. The Warriors were determined to attract the biggest name in free agency, had the available cap space, and in Durant found someone willing to relocate. He also was the last addition to the Olympic team after several other stars backed out for various reasons and wasn’t expected to play much. But Barnes is still haunted by some abysmal shooting performances in the final three games of the NBA Finals, when a shot or two from him could’ve brought a second title. That was in his hands.

“That was the hardest I cried in a long time, after [Game 7],” Barnes told The Vertical. “To me, just the atmosphere felt like, this team will never be together again. After we blew that lead, everything went south, you knew this group would never be there. And I felt like, I had an opportunity to really help the team and I didn’t come through. That is something that hurts, but you have to close that chapter and just move on.”

Barnes’ time with the Warriors – a team with a special chemistry that won mostly with homegrown talent – ended sooner than he had hoped. But he is not unfamiliar with regrouping. When Golden State made it known that he was expendable a year after helping the franchise to its first championship in 40 years, Barnes was better prepared to rebound considering his past with the organization. But he wouldn’t let his confidence be shaken as it was after his rookie season, when the Warriors replaced him as a starter with Andre Iguodala.

“It was a little bit of that,” Barnes told The Vertical. “When I left the exit meeting … they made it clear where they were standing. They were going to pursue free agents. There was no secret who they were going after. I was kind of in this place where I still felt like I had to go out there and prove myself.”

Only nine games into the process, Barnes marvels at how Nowitzki has been able to play at a consistently high level for 82 games, while doing that for most of his 19-year career. Being part of a struggling team has also been a startling adjustment, considering Barnes went from winning his first 24 games last season to losing his first five this year. Mavs teammate Andrew Bogut, who also had to move on from the Warriors to make room for Durant, believes Barnes is prepared to handle whatever comes his way in his new role.

“He was the fourth, fifth option in Golden State, and I think he kind of embraced that role, for the sake of the team, like a lot of us did,” Bogut told The Vertical. “When he left in the offseason, a lot of people were throwing stones, saying he’s not that guy. The one thing with him, he puts the work in. He’s in the gym every day. Looking after his body. He’s not a guy that’s in the streets and out in the club until 6 in the morning – which you can do, but the longevity of your career is going to hit a wall. I think he’s going to have a long, illustrious career because he’s so professional, he does everything by the book and more.”

Nowitzki will soon return from a sore Achilles’ tendon, which has sidelined the 38-year-old since the season opener, but the Mavericks will still need Barnes to remain aggressive or risk sliding even further out of contention. After settling into a comfortable role as a player whose contributions were considered a luxury more than a necessity, Barnes can’t take any nights off and will soon discover exactly what kind of player he is meant to be.

“I think this year, in terms of that aspect, has been great,” Barnes told The Vertical. “I’ve been able to go out there and play, but now, it’s the next-level things. What makes great players great is the fact that they’re able to be go-to guys, they’re able to be focal points and they win. They win nightly. They’re consistent. They go to the playoffs. They win. They win championships. That’s the next step, from just being a focal point on a losing team, to a focal point on a winning team, to a focal point on a playoff team, to a focal point on a contender.”

Waiting on you, kid.

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