Sixers: James Harden changes the perspective of Tobias Harris

If you’re a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers, then it’s not hard to be excited about the trade that landed the franchise James Harden. Harden is a breath of fresh air from the Ben Simmons sage as the two players were essentially swapped for each other.

Harden’s arrival changes many things for the Sixers, including their championship odds. He’s also going to affect the offensive pecking order behind Joel Embiid, which is fine. In fact, his arrival should have a big impact on Tobias Harris, more in particular, with the narrative surrounding the club’s power forward changing.

Harden changes the perspective of Tobias Harris on the Sixers.

Prior to this trade, Tobias Harris was being used as the second scoring option and he was the team’s highest-paid contract this season. Harris signed a max contract in the 2019 offseason worth $180 million over five years and sadly he hasn’t come close to living up to the value of his contract.

He is being paid like a true All-NBA player but he has yet to make an All-Star game. Harris’ contract will always be one of the worst in the NBA, but the perception of him should change among the 76ers fanbase.

Before this deal, Harris was pigeonholed as the 76ers number two option on offense, despite being better suited as a third scoring option. Harris wasn’t able to live up to that expectation consistently and the contract certainly didn’t help.

With Harden on the roster now, Harris can slide into his ideal role and his averages now should help pacify fans’ expectations of the power forward. On top of that, now Harden is the team’s highest-paid player, so that burden is also taken off of Harris.

Harris’ contract is still one of the worst in the NBA, there’s no changing that. However, now that his role has changed, the fan bases’ expectations based on his production should be lowered to what he can put out on a nightly basis for the Sixers.