STAYIN’ PUT
In the end, there was no place like Philly for Harris
Tobias Harris had multiple meetings set entering the first unrestricted free agency of his career, but he never ended up taking them.
“It happened quickly for me,” Harris said at the Five-Star/NBPA summer youth basketball camp on Thursday. “For us, it was trying to get something done with Philadelphia, and we got a great deal done, so I can’t really talk too much on other teams.” Great deal is an understatement.
Harris, 27, agreed to a five-year, $180 million max contract that makes him the highest-paid Sixer and one of the 10 highest-paid players in the NBA. The Nets may have had interest, Harris said, but once Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving committed, “if they had interest, that interest was pulled.”
As for the Knicks, who split $70 million in cap space between seven free agents after striking out on the Durant-Irving duo? “That would have been a whole what-if scenario with my (agent), but we got a deal done with the Sixers.” When asked again about the Knicks, Harris responded: “I don’t play for Knicks, so I don’t really care about the Knicks. I’m not gonna waste my energy or my air sweating that.”
The truth is simple: Harris wasn’t wasting energy or air on any other team but Philadelphia. No other team could have offered Harris a five-year deal, or $180 million over the life of the contract. Financially, it would have been foolish to entertain another team with that much guaranteed money waiting for a signature. And with Kawhi Leonard leaving Toronto for the Clippers in free agency, it would have been foolish to leave the team that took the Raptors to a Game 7 buzzer-beater, as well.
The Sixers already play in the free-flowing, ballmoving offense Harris has said he loves. Returning to Philly made sense, on every level imaginable.
“We’re for sure at the top of the East,” Harris said, “but with that being said, this is the NBA. It’s hard to win games in the NBA, so we know it’s gonna take a lot of chemistry, and it’s gonna take a lot of work from every single guy on the team. We have big goals for ourselves, our team and our organization, and we’re ready for it.”
The Sixers had more major moving parts than anyone saw coming, yet they still project to have one of the best starting fives in all of basketball. They’ll have a Big 5 of Harris, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Al Horford and Josh Richardson, but Harris didn’t see this lineup coming.
Harris had no idea Jimmy Butler was going to leave Philly in free agency, but when Butler agreed to the sign-and-trade that sent him to Miami in exchange for Richardson, the two stars talked everything over.
“As a player and as a friend, I always want my friend to be happy,” he said. “And he seemed very happy about the move, and I know he’s gonna like Miami. Miami’s gonna love him as a player and what he brings to the table.”
Trading Butler in return for Richardson’s lesser salary freed space for the Sixers to sign Horford to a four-year, $109 million contract. Horford is as versatile a player in the front court as you’ll find in the NBA. “He helps us out a whole lot. Al is a true professional, a great player. (He’ll) give us a bigger, better lineup,” Harris said. “He’s somebody that can really make opposing teams have to adjust. He’s gonna be a huge piece for us.
The Sixers weren’t the only team out East that shook the table. The Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo and re-signed both Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez. They also added Wesley Matthews, Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Robin Lopez. Indiana poached Malcolm Brogdon from Milwaukee, received T.J. Warren from Phoenix and will welcome a healthy Victor Oladipo back next season. The Celtics lost Irving, Horford and Marcus Morris — who signed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Knicks — but they rebounded by landing Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter. The Nets won free agency by adding Irving for this season before Durant returns in 2020.
And then there is Philadelphia, which has as good a chance, if not better, to come out of the East as any team with its hat in the ring.
“It’s great competition for us. I love the NBA. I love how it’s balanced, how everybody kind of wants to get their shot,” he said. “We got some really good guys, really good professionals. Our goal is to be at the top. If you ask me where did I think we rank, and I told you at the bottom, that would be ridiculous.”