For most of Tobias Harris‘ tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers, I’ve been an avid advocate for the overpaid power forward. It’s not his fault that the front office overpaid him to overcompensate for the loss of Jimmy Butler.
Despite having the scrutiny of being one of the most overpaid players in the NBA, Harris has done a solid job adjusting to whatever role the Sixers need him to be. Whether that be a second option as a scorer or the fourth option on this current team, Harris has taken it in stride. That being written, now is the time for the 76ers to move on from the highly productive power forward.
The Philadelphia 76ers should trade Tobias Harris now.
There are a couple of reasons why the Sixers need to move on from Harris. Chiefly being that the veteran is in the last year of his contract. Next season he will make $39.3 million and that’s a tad too much for a guy who’s the fourth option on a fully healthy 76ers roster.
The club was relatively healthy for their playoff run and yet they couldn’t seal the deal against the Celtics and gave up a 3-2 lead in which Harris was very ineffective. That plus scoring just 14.7 points per game, the lowest since the 2015-16 season, doesn’t help his trade value.
Despite his production being lower than what fans aspect Harris to produce, he was still highly efficient shooting 50.1 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from the 3-point line. He also reached a new level defensively this year. However, his main value is in the amount his contract is worth.
Philly can flip his deal into several very good role players if 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey can find the right team to deal with. Morey needs to pay attention to his MVP in Joel Embiid, the big man made it very clear what he needs are moving forward.
Joel Embiid: “I can’t win alone. Me and James, we just can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played five-on-five.” pic.twitter.com/pH9dqEcxRe
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 15, 2023
The easiest way to get Embiid some help is by trading Harris with his big contract and getting either multiple role players or trying to swing for the fences for a star one. Either way, it seems that the stars are aligned for the Philadelphia 76ers to trade Harris this offseason.