ball-handling role, and Williams was traded after the season to the Seattle SuperSonics. Barry averaged 23.1 points per game in his farewell season (1977–78) with the Warriors. Houston Rockets Barry finished his career with the Houston Rockets, playing through the 1979–80 NBA season. The Rockets signed him as a free agent in June 1978, and the league awarded veteran guard John Lucas to the Warriors as compensation. In the twilight of his career, Barry continued to make history. In his Rockets debut, he assumed a new role as the first player off the bench. It was not long before he elevated the point forward position to another level. Barry finished with a career-high 502 assists to become the first true small forward to reach the 500 mark in one season. Until then, swingman John Havlicek had been the only forward with as many as 500 assists in a season, but the Boston Celtics swingman also spent considerable time at the off guard spot. Barry averaged 13.5 points per game and established a new NBA record (since broken) with a .947 free throw percentage. Barry was less of a factor in his final season. The Rockets were swept by the Celtics in the 1980 Eastern Conference semifinals, and when contract talks with Boston and the Seattle SuperSonics failed to produce a contract, he decided to retire. Career statistics Regular season |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|San Francisco (NBA) |style="background:#cfecec;"|80* || || 37.4 || .439 || || .862 || 10.6 || 2.2 || || || 25.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|San Francisco (NBA) |78 || || 40.7 || .451 || || .884 || 9.2 || 3.6 || || || style="background:#cfecec;"|35.6* |- |style="text-align:left; background:#afe6fa;"|† |style="text-align:left;"|Oakland (ABA) |35 || – || 38.9 || .511 || .300 || style="background:#cfecec;"|.888* || 9.4 || 3.9 || || || 34.0* |- |style="text-align:left"| |style="text-align:left;"|Washington (ABA) |52 || – || 35.6 || .499 || .205 || .864 || 7.0 || 3.4 || || || 27.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|New York (ABA) |59 || – || 42.4 || .469 || .221 || .890 || 6.8 || 5.0 || || || 29.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|New York (ABA) |80 || – || style="background:#cfecec;"|45.2* || .458 || .308 || .878 || 7.5 || 4.1 || || || 31.5 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Golden State (NBA) |style="background:#cfecec;"|82* || || 37.5 || .452 || || style="background:#cfecec;"|.902* || 8.9 || 4.9 || || || 22.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Golden State (NBA) |80 || || 36.5 ||