Nobody is denying the talent of 28-year-old Tobias Harris. When Philadelphia signed the expert scorer to a 5-yr, $180M contract in 2019, it came off the premise that he would be averaging at least 20+ points per game for them throughout the season.
The thinking, at the time, was that he could provide the appropriate spacing and offensive talent needed to free up Embiid and Simmons to work in the inside.
Of course, that scenario hasn’t quite played out, and, with the utmost respect to Harris, he has yet to play like a 180 million dollar man.
Not counting Game 4, in which he suffered a pretty brutal fall, Harris is averaging just 14.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 37.8 minutes per game on 33.3 percent from the field. he also went 0-10 from beyond the arc.
Obviously he is failing to meet expectations and, before Game 4 on Tuesday, former Celtics star Paul Pierce joked that he could match that same level of play at 42-years-old.
Paul Pierce on Tobias Harris' performance in the playoffs to date: "If they gave me $180 million, I could give you 12 points, 13 points in an NBA game right now"
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) August 23, 2020
For what’s worth, Pierce averaged just 3.2 points per game the last season he was on the court, so it’s highly unlikely he’d be able to average over 10 today.
But in the end, we’re all wishing the best for Harris. At 28-years-old, he’s still got plenty of time to prove the naysayers wrong.
As for Philadelphia, they’ll need him at the top of his game if they are to make any noise in the Eastern Conference next season. It will be interesting to see how he responds.
