When it comes to the Philadelphia 76ers being involved in trade rumors this offseason, Ben Simmons is going to be the most common name mentioned in those talks. Simmons’ poor postseason production on offense certainly warrants him being in those talks however, he shouldn’t be the only Sixer available for trade talks.
This clearly won’t be another Shake Milton trade article, considering that I’ve already written on that. No, this piece is about the forward that the 76ers gave a five year $180 million contract to two offseasons ago.
Philly’s president of basketball operations Darryl Morey and general manager Elton Brand need to figure out if they can trade power forward Tobias Harris this offseason. If they can get then they need to figure out who is interested in acquiring him.
Can the Philadelphia 76ers trade Harris this offseason?
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Harris is on a max contract and he’s not a max player, so getting equal value for him will be pretty hard. That being written, he’s coming off the best regular and postseason of his career. During the regular season, he should have been an All-Star almost reaching the 50-40-90 club. He averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 assists, while converting 51.2 percent of his field goals, 39.4 percent of his 3-pointers, and 89.2 percent from the foul line.
He also had the best postseason run of his career as well. He averaged 21.8 points, 8,5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 steal. He shot 48.8 percent from the floor, 37.2 percent from deep, and 87.5 percent. He really had two poor performances this postseason, which is much better than in years past.
To be clear, this past season doesn’t make his deal a value contract, but it does help improve its value in the trade market. A team like the Oklahoma City Thunder would certainly take on Harris plus a first round pick, as I wrote in a hypothetical trade in the past, but outside of that scenario, it seems unlikely that he will be a player who will be pursued in deals this offseason.
Harris’ trade value certainly improved this past year, but it’s still going too hard for the Philadelphia 76ers to move on from him without giving up draft capital.