2024 NBA Free Agency: Report: Former Sixer Tobias Harris to sign two-year contract with Pistons

If you’re not excited about signing Paul George because of concerns about where his contract will go in a few years, or simply because the Philadelphia 76ers have hurt you too badly in the past, let me illustrate how much worse things could be.

Your Franchise Might Owe Someone $65 Million not to coach the team.

The team could not have won more than 23 games in the past five seasons, but has never been selected higher than fifth overall in the last three drafts.

Your team could have signed Tobias Harris for two years, $52 million.

Sorry, Detroit Pistons fans.

Please note that the second year is fully guaranteed without options.

For a long time, Tobias Harris ending up in Detroit was a running joke here at Liberty Ballers and seemed set in stone. But when the franchise parted ways with general manager Troy Weaver in late May and hired Trajan Langdon, I really thought the ship had sailed. Now, the idea was that they would definitely be wiser with cap space. Langdon even said the right things about using it to make unwanted deals to acquire assets. The trade to bring in Tim Hardaway Jr. from Dallas in exchange for three second-round picks seemed like a step in that direction, though if you’re high on Quentin Grimes, you still may not have liked the trade. Unfortunately for Pistons fans, Harris’ connection to Detroit, where he already played for three seasons, remained too strong.

I mean, who was really bidding against Detroit here for Tobias who could offer $26 million a year? Utah’s Danny Ainge is too smart for something like that. At the very least, how can we not make the second year a team option so that it can be viewed essentially as a potentially valuable and important contract expiring at the trade deadline, if you so desire?

To look at the other side for a moment, Harris is a good locker room presence. I’m sure there’s some value in teaching youngsters how a 401(k) works and starting a book club. He’s also durable, having played at least 70 games in each of the last nine seasons (except for the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season). He’ll likely average 18 per game with decent field goal percentages, and analytics will show that Tobias is worth the money Torrel Harris can use for his PowerPoint presentation the next time a contract negotiation comes around.

But as anyone who has watched the Sixers in recent years knows, for every 25-point game Harris has, there will be a few where he’s just doing cardio (and not even hard cardio, but the kind of cardio you’re interested in paying attention to the ball game happening on the treadmill, so you set it to 70% speed). Tobias may be able to teach the kids valuable lessons off the court, but he’s teaching them on the court that you can go five years without drawing a charge (officially) or catching a contested loose ball (unofficially, but I’m sure there weren’t many), and they still get paid.

I have no personal animosity towards Tobias Harris and I am sure that some of this money will be generously donated to worthy charities. But I’m really happy to no longer be working with Tobias Harris and I’m shocked that another franchise is so eager to get on board.