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After a week of hype, Philadelphia 76ers fans were thoroughly disappointed when both Joel Embiid and Paul George were ruled out for their Game 4 showdown against the Detroit Pistons.
Suddenly, an easy win looked far more contested, the excitement to see what this team actually looked like was out the window, and all fans had left was to take their seats, eat some Lorenzo's Pizza, and boo the ever-loving crap out of former forward Tobias Harris.
Tobias Harris was booed during the pregame introductions ahead of the Sixers-Pistons matchup 👀
(via @BySamDiGiovanni) pic.twitter.com/cZVRja1ss2
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 30, 2024
Cruel treatment of a player who helped lead the Sixers to multiple deep playoff runs? From an outside perspective, maybe so, but for 76ers fans who had to watch him play out a full five-year, $180 million max contract? Yeah, this one felt personal.
Philadelphia 76ers have plenty of reasons to dislike Tobias Harris
Originally acquired to be the missing piece of a starting lineup that featured Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Jimmy Butler, and Joel Embiid – remember them? – Harris was famously prioritized over Butler in free agency and earned a max contract to remain in Philadelphia long-term. From there, Harris refused to be content with playing a 3-and-D role as a combo forward, instead thinking of himself as a sort of mini-Carmelo Anthony while consistently underwhelming when the 76ers needed him to step up.
Harris is the only player to earn as much money as he has through his career – $273.9 million, if you can believe it – to never make an All-Star game, an All-NBA list, or win any award at all, from an All-Rookie team to an All-Defense team. Goodness, Harris never even turned in a 90-50-40 season in Philadelphia, the mark of an elite shooter, as he has never connected on 90 percent of his free throws over a full season, period.
So what, you may ask, is Harris' legacy in the City of Brotherly Love? Well, two words really sum it up: wasted potential. Harris never lived up to the contract the 76ers gave him, was never a better player than Butler during even his best season, and the team's GM, be that Elton Brand or Daryl Morey, never even cashed out on whatever value he had to make a playoff push with more complementary firepower. Throw that in with his empty stats and laissez-faire attitude, and it's safe to say Harris will be booed every time he faces off against the 76ers for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of his career.
