ENCINO — When you walk into the Crespi High School gym in Encino to catch a weeknight boys basketball game, your eyes might gravitate toward a voluminous, bouncy, curly head of hair. And on the opposite side of the court, you see the same exact set of hair on a young man who looks just like the first.
There’s no need to adjust your glasses, you’re not seeing double. You’re getting a glimpse of Isaiah and Carter Barnes, 17-year-old identical twins who play on the Crespi varsity basketball team.
The brothers have been a cornerstone of the Crespi basketball program since their freshman year in 2023, having played in every game in their first varsity campaign and nearly every game since.
The sons of 14-year NBA pro Matt Barnes have been hooping together ever since they were 3. Since then, they’ve rarely been apart.
“Twins are better off together,” Isaiah said.
It’s proven true on the court, where they complement each other well. And the versatile way they’ve modeled their game helps all their teammates.
But just because they look alike, it doesn’t mean they hoop alike. While they are both well-rounded and excel at the fundamentals of the sport, their styles of play have some distinct differences.
Carter is a tenacious defender, a ballhawk who gives opposing players fits. He’s averaging 1.7 steals per game through 10 games this year and has taken the most charges on the team.
He also leads the team in 3-point makes and attempts so far this season. Carter likes to create more on the outside compared to Isaiah, who prefers to slash to the basket.
Isaiah is averaging 15.3 points per game this season and has gotten to the line 56 times, speaking to his ability to get to the paint, create contact and finish at rim.
Isaiah is also a little more built, as Carter put it, and has a few pounds on his brother.
Maybe it’s because Isaiah was born six minutes ahead of Carter, a fact that brings the former great joy.
“Six minutes, that’s a lot of minutes, I promise you,” Zay said with a smile.
Rancho Cucamonga’s JC Corneille and Crespi’s Isaiah Barnes reach for a loose ball during a boys basketball game at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)Carter and Isaiah also grew up in the exceptional environment of professional basketball.
They got to watch their dad play in the league for over a decade up close. Their uncle is three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Alijah Arenas, a freshman at USC who starred at Chatsworth, is their first cousin.
They played with their brother Drew Fisher when they were freshmen and he was a senior. Their stepfather and Crespi head coach is 5-time NBA champion Derek Fisher.
It’s been a blessing for the brothers, who have gotten to learn about the game of basketball and life from the best in the business.
But it also can bring about pressure.
It was a hard road to navigate at first, the twins admit, but they’ve since embraced their unique path and all the positivity it has brought to their lives.
“It’s pressure and it’s also very much a blessing, too,” Carter said. “I’ve learned a lot from everyone, every basketball mind that I have on my side. Definitely, it’s a lot of pressure because I don’t want to disappoint them. But the blessing is just so much, it just outweighs the pressure.”
“As an NBA player’s son, it obviously just comes with a deal of pressure,” Isaiah said. “It’s also brought advantages. I can always ask them about how they handled hard times. How they just improved mentally, physically, all that. It brought a little bit of pressure on me at first, but now I just use it to my advantage to learn.”
They’ve also had to deal with unfair scrutiny, and likely more to come in the future.
But fighting through adversity has only made them stronger and better equipped for what lies ahead.
“There will be some days where it doesn’t feel good,” Fisher said. “But everybody’s journey has had some of those adverse moments and situations kind of built in along the way. And they’ll have their own. And then they’ll also be able to rely on that basketball ecosystem that they have around them to help them navigate those moments as well.”
Like most teenagers, Carter and Isaiah like to have fun. You can usually catch them flashing their big smiles and joking around with their teammates. But their maturity is beyond their years.
They put the student part of student-athlete first, and know the importance of academics.
They respect the game and don’t take it for granted.
And they know how to work through hardships, like Carter faced this past summer.
Primed to be one of the most well-known guards in the nation, he suffered an ankle injury that kept him off the court all summer, away from major tournaments like Section 7, Peach Jam and Cali Live.
But because of the valuable lessons he has learned in his life, and his strength of character, he was able to overcome and return to start the first game of his junior season.
“It’s definitely been one of the hardest things I’ve gone through in my life. This year meant a lot to me, this summer too, because I knew I was on track to be one of the best guards in the country,” Carter said. “The story’s never going to be perfect. It’s never always going to be all sunshine and rainbows. Just keep going. If you keep going, there’s always going to be a greater purpose.”
Through a strong foundation and a brotherhood at the Crespi program, the Barnes twins have found and helped build an everlasting family.
In an era of transfers, Carter and Isaiah exemplify loyalty, embarking on a journey with their teammates to create something special at Crespi.
And while Carter and Isaiah’s blood literally runs as deep as it possibly can, they share their brotherhood with all their teammates.
“Family is everything. Everyone on my team are my brothers,” Carter said. “It’s what we’re rooted in. It’s what we stand for. We call it the Crespi Brotherhood. Everything we do, we do it as a family. We do it together.”
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