ROB CARR/GETTY IMAGES Harrison Barnes, left, and Kevin Durant will be teammates for the next two weeks at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and then be rivals in the NBA's Western Conference. Barnes has signed with Dallas and Durant signed with Barnes' old team — the Golden State Warriors — during the off-season.

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By Mark Travis

LAS VEGAS — The honeymoon phase of Harrison Barnes' basketball career will be over when Team USA returns home from the Olympics.

During the past two seasons with the Golden State Warriors, Barnes has been a part of a historic group that won a championship in 2015 and a record 73 regular season games last season.

This summer, even after Kevin Durant's arrival forced him out of the Bay Area, Barnes has a chance to win a Gold Medal, with superstar players who can shoulder the heavy lifting flanking him once again.

"To say the least, it has been a pretty remarkable run," Barnes said.

Barnes has been in a nearly perfect basketball environment for two years. Barnes lived a blessed life in Golden State with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green carrying the scoring load while creating efficient shots for him, and Andre Iguodala and Green taking on the most difficult defensive matchups.

Unfortunately for Barnes, his free agency coincided with that of a superstar who played his position and was desperate for a championship. Once Durant shocked the NBA world by joining the Warriors, Barnes' decision was made for him: He was ready to sign a four-year, $95 million max deal with the Dallas Mavericks.

Barnes is now like a fresh college graduate, out from under the wings of Curry and Thompson and forced to start doing some heavy lifting.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to grow in this situation," Barnes said.

Had Barnes stayed with the Warriors, perhaps a max deal for a player whose is coming off of career bests of 11.7 points and 1.8 assists wouldn't look so strange. After all, it would be hard for a capped out team to get his level of production by any other means. For any other team, though, $95 million for a player with pedestrian counting and advanced stats seems like an overpay, even in this summer's looney market.

The Mavericks are betting on the Warriors' unique infrastructure being the primary reason for Barnes' muted production during the past few seasons. Although Barnes might have had underwhelming play at times, the underlying belief was he was sacrificing his numbers so he could fill his complementary role as well as possible. Barnes scored 17 points per game during his final season at North Carolina and showed flashes of someone who could develop into a reliable scorer with Golden State and that is the player the Mavericks hope they have signed.

"You're going to see a lot more to his game than you've seen in the past," Mavs owner Mark Cuban told ESPN. "I think he can do a lot more than he's been asked to do, and that's what we expect to see. ... Maybe not first year, but I think he's going to grow into [the role of go-to guy]. Just because a guy hasn't done things doesn't mean he can't do it."

Barnes' signing represented a triumph for the Mavericks; since their championship in 2011, almost every high-profile free agent they have pursued has passed them up. Now it is up to Barnes to utilize the room to grow Dallas is offering him to make its investment turn good.

"I look forward to adding different things to my game," Barnes said. "More shots, taking on more responsibility. But I can't stress how important it was for coach (Carlisle) to tell me that I need to stay myself. He told me they still needed me to go out there and be a versatile defender. They still need me to be an active rebounder. Just because I take more shots doesn't mean you just take your foot off the gas on that end. That was really important for me to hear. A lot of the time you think that because you have a different role, you stop doing the other things that got you here and it's like no, no, no. This is the bread and butter and then you add on top of that."

Barnes faces a lot of changes — to his game, to his surroundings, to his role — this upcoming season. One thing that won't change: He'll still be an underdog in post-practice shootouts. Curry and Thompson humbled him daily four years, and now Nowitzki looms.

"I stay around these great shooters, man," Barnes said. "I'm going to have to either elevate my level or continue to take losses."

Barnes enters a situation where the expectations are lower but with the fresh pressure of a big payday. It might seem like an uphill battle now, but as someone who is just about to descend from the mountain top in Rio, Barnes knows what it takes to climb back up.

"I think the thing for me is continuing the same work ethic that I have had," Barnes said. "I have to come in willing to learn and willing to trust the process and willing to grow. Not everything happens all at once."