Happy payday, Harrison Barnes

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

CHEESE FOR BREAKFAST, CHEESE FOR DINNER: The Warriors have offered Harrison Barnes a four-year, $64 million early extension, per Woj. Am I wrong to think there’s no way he accepts anything particularly close to that? (Woj says it is a starting point for negotiations.) Barnes is an improving player, a starter on a title team and a youngster fairly critical to the Warriors’ plan, especially as Andre Iguodala ages and the team looks at preserving its stars’ energy levels. He’s not even the fourth-most important player on the team ... but he will be.

While $16 million is a brilliant paycheck, the new NBA makes it less gilded than it seems. I think Barnes is going to wait a while and perhaps go through the season to test his value a bit. He’ll be a restricted free agent in 2016 -- when the salary cap explodes -- if he doesn’t sign by Halloween. I don’t think this gets it done.

VAMOS! Spain is the champion of Europe again. They and Lithuania will be in the 2016 Olympics, joining Team USA, Venezuela, Argentina, host Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, the winning of FIBA Asia (which begins on Wednesday) and three teams who qualify from a last-chance tournament in July 2016.

By the way, Pau Gasol was ridiculous at EuroBasket, especially in the semis against hated France.

COACHES ON THE OUTSIDE: Dan Devine lists the best five NBA coaches not in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

MALICE II: Cavs fans have spoken: LeBron’s greatest moment as a Cav was the infamous Game 5 of the 2007 East Finals in Detroit.

THIS ALWAYS WORKS: Minnesota has signed Andrew Wiggins’ older brother Nick.

SPEAKING OF WHICH ... What Team Canada needs to do to hit the next level.

THE NEXT SHIP: Kevin Pelton on the 10 best NBA prospects from EuroBasket who are not already in the NBA.

FACE THE FACTS: Everyone is laughing at the close-up faces in NBA Live 16.

AGREED: Shaq thinks Kobe should keep playing if he’s physically able to do so. I’m a broken record on this but I don’t see Kobe retiring unless he has another injury riddled season.

ALL-DECADES: Here are all of our All-Decades NBA teams in one place.

THE HOUND OF BASKETVILLE: Brian Phillips on Kareem’s mystery novel and the plane of post-athletic prominence Abdul-Jabbar has reached.

Ws AND Ls: Last week Adam Silver said that the WNBA isn’t quite where NBA executives had hoped it’d be. People love drama, so this was wildly shared. espnW’s Mechelle Voepel wants to know what exactly it means.

SPEAKING OF Ws ... The leader of the all-male practice squad that serves as scrimmage foils for the New York Liberty says that these women will kick your tails.

Happy Monday. See you next time.