On June 23, 1972, a United States District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction to prohibit Barry from playing for any team other than the Golden State Warriors after his contract with the Nets ended. On October 6, 1972, the Nets released Barry and he returned to the Warriors. Golden State Warriors Upon Barry's return to the Warriors and the NBA, Barry moved his game away from the basket, where he arguably became the first so-called point forward in league history. That is, Barry took on a role similar to that of a point guard and became the chief facilitator of the offense. While his offensive forays were not as frequent as in the past, on March 26, 1974, he scored a career-high 64 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 143–120 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers. In training camp before the 1974–75 sesason, Barry was elected captain by his teammates. The Warriors went on to capture the Pacific Division crown as Barry had the best all-around season of his career. He averaged 30.6 points per game. Barry led the league in free throw percentage (.904) and steals per game (2.9) and ranked sixth in assists per game (6.2), the only forward among the top 10 in the category. In the playoffs, the upstart Warriors turned back the Seattle SuperSonics and Chicago Bulls to capture the Western Conference crown. Barry was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player on the strength of 29.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals per game. In the 1975 NBA draft, the Warriors selected point guard Gus Williams in the first round. Barry was not required to contribute as much during the 1975–76 season, and his scoring average dipped to 21.0 points per game as a result. Barry's relationship with his teammates continued to deteriorate, to the point where during the final game of the 1976 Western Conference Finals, when Suns rookie Ricky Sobers assaulted Barry away from the ball in the first quarter, none of his teammates came to his aid (in response, Barry took very few shots for the rest of the game, leading to speculation that Barry "quit on the team"). In the 1976–77 season, the Warriors won 46 games the next season with Barry, Smith, and Williams sharing scoring and ball-handling, but were eliminated in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers. Reportedly, Barry and Williams clashed over the