Strange 76ers rumor has two teams repeating a fatal mistake they made

The Philadelphia 76ers are on the verge of a pretty busy slate in free agency, but before they foray into the open market, they will have to firmly decide on the fate of the players they had on the roster last season.

Daryl Morey and the entire 76ers brass have made it abundantly clear that no one except Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are safe, raising the odds of their own free agents not staying with the franchise any longer. Still, they have indicated that they prefer to retain some of those players, especially those who played pivotal roles for the team last season.

New rumor has two teams repeating a fatal 76ers mistake

One of the 76ers’ own free agents, Tobias Harris, enters the market as a difficult one to read. On one hand, he remains a productive starting-caliber forward who brings a veteran edge and tertiary scoring. On the other, he’s a relatively expensive commodity who hasn’t really shown consistent stretches of living up to expectations placed on him.

Nonetheless, two teams apparently couldn’t care less.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz have expressed a strong desire to snag Harris in free agency. Prior to this report, the 31-year-old, who spent the last five-plus years in Philadelphia, hasn’t made much noise with a seeming dearth of interest suitors.

Detroit and Utah’s interest, however, is mystifying. While Philly would be happy with those clubs shutting down any window of Harris returning to the 76ers, both the Pistons and Jazz have conflicting timelines in account of the logic behind theoretically pursuing him.

The Pistons have more or less the same gargantuan cap space that the 76ers are armed with, and surely, a franchise that has been at the nadir of the NBA in recent years would move with more caution, right?

Meanwhile, the Jazz, bagging the fourth-biggest financial legroom in the NBA, have no virtual need for Harris with Lauri Markkanen still on the roster. Barring a trade involving the All-Star, signing Harris has the stylings of a fatal and senseless cap-sapping venture.

Objective rants aside, those teams are repeating the same fatal mistake the 76ers once made. But more selfishly, it’s definitely satisfying having these teams seemingly ready to assume the risk that the city of Philadelphia won’t have to deal with anymore. Hah.