Matt Barnes returns to Del Campo High School on Wednesday night to have two of his jerseys retired and play in an alumni basketball game.

Playing will be the easy part.

When Barnes steps into the old gym for the first time in 13 years, it will be with mixed emotions of his triumphant and tumultuous teenage years.

It was on that Fair Oaks campus in the 1990s that Barnes became a standout athlete. At 6-foot-8, he was big enough to do chin-ups on the rim and skilled enough to handle the ball. In football, Barnes caught a remarkable 26 touchdown passes in the fall of 1997. The rigors of football made Barnes a better basketball player, and he has carved out an eight-year NBA career, including last season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

But it was what happened later that school year, weeks before his 1998 graduation, that really affected Barnes. On Sunday, he recalled his fury after his sister was called a racial epithet by a Del Campo classmate and how he was reprimanded for fighting in her defense. That same spring, the words "Die Matt Barnes Die" were painted on a campus building. The vandals were never caught.

For the most part, Barnes was admired and appreciated on campus, and he still has scores of friends from those days, many of whom will be on hand Wednesday.

"It's a bittersweet return," Barnes said. "Del Campo wanted to retire my jersey before, but I wasn't ready for it. I told myself for a long time I wouldn't go back because what happened really hurt.

"I'll never forget what happened – it was a black eye – but that was the only time it wasn't great at Del Campo. The rest of my high school times were the greatest times."

So why now?

"I've gone through so much recently, and the time seems right," Barnes said. "My fiancée and I separated … just trying to turn a new leaf. I'm ready to move on."

Barnes said his mother, his most ardent supporter, would have wanted him to accept a jersey retirement. Ann Barnes, who died of cancer four years ago this week, never got to hold Barnes' 3-year-old twin sons, Isaiah and Carter, who will be at Del Campo on Wednesday.

"Not having my mom there – that will be the toughest part," Barnes said, adding his father, Henry, will attend. "She was always there."

Barnes, who will have his basketball (No. 32) and football (21) jerseys retired following the Del Campo girls alumni game, said he's especially pleased that Steve Kenyon will be part of the ceremony.

Kenyon, Barnes' football coach, pushed him to develop his strength and nastiness in the weight room. After Barnes was rocked on a play against Grant in 1996 as a junior, Kenyon insisted Barnes put his helmet back on and stick with it. From then on, Barnes decided he would do the punishing, that he'd never buckle again.

Barnes, a four-year starter in basketball at UCLA, said football has always "been my true love."

"Football is what defined me," Barnes said. "Coach Kenyon, I owe him so much. He shaped the foundation of the kind of player I became. Who knows if I'd even still be playing if not for what I learned in football."

Kenyon beamed at hearing Barnes' comments.

"Great memories of Matt," Kenyon said. "This is a guy who went through a school of hard knocks in life. He paid his dues, been through the mill. It's neat to see it's come to this."

Kenyon travels the country to preach the merits of conditioning and strength work.

"People know the name Matt Barnes," Kenyon said. "I'll mention that he played high school football, and their eyes raise, and they think of what kind of receiver he was. Matt had (26) touchdowns in 51 catches as a senior. The question is, why … didn't we throw it to him 100 times?"

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