May 13, 2024
Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports
After yet another disappointing playoff performance, Tobias Harris' Sixers tenure may finally come to a close this summer.
It's going to be an offseason like no other. Save for Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and a few other depth players, the Sixers could totally overhaul their roster before the 2024-25 regular season.
With upwards of $60 million in cap space likely to be available, debates as to whether most of the roster should be brought back into the fold for next season and beyond — or not — will be debated for weeks. As the team contemplates major changes in personnel, we ponder the question, should Tobias Harris stay or go?
In the first installment of this series, let's talk about the Sixers' highest-paid and highest-profile free agent -- who also happens to be their lowest-approved one in the city of Philadelphia.
Hopes were high for Tobias Harris when the Sixers traded for him at the 2019 NBA trade deadline. Harris was enjoying a career-best season for the Los Angeles Clippers, establishing himself as one of the league's best and most efficient scorers on the wing. The team planned to make him its fourth star behind Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler.
On paper, the fit appeared to be seamless. In practice, not so much. Harris' shooting numbers took a dive for the remainder of the season, and when Butler departed in free agency months later and the Sixers embraced a new identity by also letting JJ Redick walk and signing long-time nemesis Al Horford, suddenly Harris was asked to be the team's primary perimeter scorer -- and he was given a now-infamous five-year contract worth a whopping $180 million despite his underwhelming first few months as a Sixer.
The following season was a disaster, as the Sixers were ultimately swept in the first round of the playoffs by Horford's former team, the Boston Celtics. The Sixers quickly made sweeping changes to their roster that summer -- as they have in nearly every single offseason since. But since early 2019, the two constants have been Embiid -- one of the league's most dominant two-way forces -- and Harris -- one of the league's most overpriced role players.
Now, the harmful pact the Sixers agreed to with Harris all those years ago is finally set to expire. Despite his lack of popularity these days, is there a reasonable case to be made that the Sixers should bring back the veteran wing?
In two words: probably not.
With every free agent, there are several factors at play when a team is deciding if they should be brought back: the player's on-court fit, their price tag, the salary cap machinations that must take place in order to enable the signing, the opportunity cost that comes with a potential contract and, of course, whether or not the player wants to return, among many others. Just about every single angle of Harris' upcoming free agency leads one to the same conclusion: it would be best for all parties involved to move on.
Harris told reporters after the team's playoff elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks that he had not yet thought about whether or not it would be the last game he played as a Sixer. But Harris has been subjected to massive amounts of pressure during his years in Philadelphia, has faced harsh (though typically warranted) criticism on a frequent basis and, at this point, has few supporters in the fanbase. Nobody doubts that Harris has carried himself with immense professionalism during his time with the team, but that does not stop Wells Fargo Center crowds from groaning with frustration every time he misses a crucial shot or botches a defensive assignment.
One would venture to guess that all of this has weighed on Harris, and it would not be remotely surprising if he was interested in landing with a new team -- perhaps in an environment where the pressure is much lower.
On the floor, the Sixers simply need to aim higher. Harris is typically a viable rotation player, but even when discarding his gigantic price tag, he was not nearly effective enough to hold down a major role on this team, year after year. The Sixers reportedly aim to add a third star-caliber player to their All-Star duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Harris is most certainly not that. But even if they strike out on someone like Paul George in free agency and decide to pivot to assembling an impressive collection of valuable role players, Harris should still be on the outside looking in. He is just not good enough.
On offense, Harris' methodical play-style is entirely antithetical to how teammates of Embiid and Maxey need to approach the game. His three-point shooting has gone from great to good to just decent, while his one-on-one scoring never lived up to its billing after he arrived in Philadelphia and his inability to create for others rounds out his extremely poor fit with the Sixers.
Harris has been able to handle certain defensive responsibilities well in recent years -- mostly defending on-ball against non-explosive athletes -- but far too often is caught sleeping off the ball and does not have the requisite athleticism or physical tools to make standout plays on that end of the floor.
Harris made a hair under $40 million in 2023-24, earning more money than all but 18 other NBA players. Certainly, he will not command another near-maximum contract. But this is also not someone who is going to accept a veteran's minimum deal (even if that is what most Sixers fans might argue he is worth). It is unclear exactly what Harris' market is going to look like, but this is a 31-year-old with 13 years of NBA experience: even after finishing his time playing on an overpriced contract, he is not going to sign for pocket change.
Perhaps the biggest reason why Harris seems destined for a new organization is the Sixers' aforementioned pursuit of star-caliber players in free agency. If the Sixers were able to convince someone like George to come to Philadelphia, the first move they would need to make to help create the necessary cap space would be to renounce their rights to Harris: until they do that, his cap hold will be on their books for just over $49.3 million.
Harris carried himself well off the court during his long Sixers tenure. But time and time again, he found new ways to come up short in the biggest of moments, culminating in a scoreless effort in what could be his final game with the team -- a performance that was as poetic as it was enraging for Sixers fans.
Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and his front office are working to assemble their Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and so forth. It seems unlikely that any of those plans include Harris.
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