Sixers Shouldn't Look to Trade Tobias Harris at NBA Trade Deadline

The Philadelphia 76ers have been trying to trade Ben Simmons, but haven’t had any luck up until now.

Part of the reason deals weren’t able to get done was due to the Sixers trying to include Tobias Harris. Involving Harris in a deal is a pure salary dump, as the Sixers now see that having him on the books for over $75 million over the next two years isn’t the best thing in the world.

Harris has played below his normal standard this season and hasn’t fully stepped into his role as the “Robin” to Joel Embiid’s “Batman.” Up until this point, it’s been hard to trade an expensive, underperforming player – yet that might have been a blessing. 

Over the last 11 games, Harris’ numbers have gone up. He’s begun to play better, which should make the 76ers reconsider trying so hard to get rid of him. 

Harris is averaging 22.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in the last 11 games, with 58/50/84 splits. If he can keep that up, Philadelphia won’t need to get rid of its rotation pieces in a Ben Simmons trade. 

Since he’s gotten to Philly, Harris has been able to do his own thing without a lot of pressure on him. Now that Jimmy Butler is long gone and Simmons is out of the picture, the Sixers need him to step up. 

Finding a trade partner and a trade that makes sense for Philadelphia is going to be hard. Not only is Harris’ contract a big one to take on, he’s pushing 30 and is a known commodity. There’s not a large market for players like him, so the Sixers may be stuck with him. 

They should be happy about that. 

Trading Harris just to trade him might be detrimental to Phlly’s long term future. They would have to dump picks or nice young players to get off of the contract. For now, they should continue to roll with Harris and keep pushing towards the No. 1 seed.

WynnBET currently has the Sixers’ title odds set at +900. If they want to get there, Harris will have to keep up his recent play – and Philly should keep him around to let him do it.

You can find Donnavan Smoot’s full betting record here.