Heading into this offseason, the midlevel exception of $5.356 million seemed a realistic salary starting point in the eyes of many, including Matt Barnes.

In a departure from his usual steady, low-key approach, Barnes left agent Bill Neff, who had beaten many a bush over the past few seasons to get Barnes into veteran training camps, to sign with agent Dan Fegan, who just happened to have fellow Warriors Stephen Jackson and Jason Richardson (since traded to Charlotte).

"I was talking to a lot of people who were telling me that I needed a big-time agent to get that big money," Barnes said Wednesday evening. "That's the main reason I decided to change agents. It wasn't anything that (Neff) did or didn't do. We'll see if that was a smart decision or not. Basically, it was just me analyzing my situation."

Wednesday was the first day teams could sign free agents, and Barnes said he has not received the offers he anticipated.

"Right now, there's nothing happening," he said. "I was thinking the midlevel exception was realistic, but my agent has been telling me teams have questioned whether the success I had was because of (Warriors coach Don) Nelson's system and whether or not I could have the same success in another system.

"It's pretty frustrating because I thought I had a good year," said Barnes, who averaged 9.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists and shot 43.8 percent from the field, including 36.6 percent from three-point range, in 23.9 minutes per game during the regular season. "It was not a great season, but it was good. And from what other players have received, I thought I'd be right there in that mix. But Golden State has not come around to what I thought they might, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens."