Philadelphia 76ers: A Tobias Harris-Kings trade feels too good to be true

Tobias Harris is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. He became a member of the team on February 6th, 2018 when Elton Brand traded a small fortune for his services, and I for one am convinced he will still be on the team until the summer of 2024, when his five-year, $180 million contract reaches its conclusion.

Is that a cynical take? Maybe so but hey, the Sixers have been flirting with the idea of trading Harris for what feels like years now, and for one reason or another – Read: A lack of external interest – Harris has remained on the roster.

And yet, every so often, a rumor will float up to the surface and catch hold that maybe, just maybe, some team has interest in the 6-foot-8 player as a short-term answer to their on-field woes.

Today, that team is the Sacramento Kings, who, according to Matt Moore of The Action Network as aggregated by NBA Central, have emerged as a potential landing spot for Harris and his contract.

Would such a deal work? Sure; the Kings have matching salary in Justin Holiday and Harrison Barnes, and could even sell the prospects of acquiring Harris – plus additional draft pick/young player compensation – as a “win-now” move for a team looking to break a 16-year playoff drought, but will they actually pull the trigger?

Considering their GM, Monte McNair, reportedly declined to take back Harris in a trade for Ben Simmons earlier this year, the answer to that question feels like a resounding no, Philadelphia 76ers fans.

Trading Tobias Harris isn’t the only solution to the Philadelphia 76ers’ problems.

If the Philadelphia 76ers could magically flip a switch and remove Tobias Harris from the roster without taking back any salary, free agency would be their oyster.  They’d have unfettered access to both the full mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception, an ability to sign unlimited players to veteran minimum deals, and even an ability to use cap space to outbid opposing teams for someone like Danuel House, who John Hollinger believes could fetch a little bit more than that due to his efficient performances in Utah.

Unfortunately, that isn’t how the NBA works; unless some team both has $37 million in available cap space and really likes Harris, that just isn’t in the cards.  While Daryl Morey could pursue another veteran on a similar contract, say Gordon Hayward from Charlotte or Kevin Love from Cleveland, such a deal presents its own unique challenges and may not prove viable before free agency opens up on Thursday evening.

No, the quickest path to the Sixers building out their roster is also the most obvious one: James Harden declining his massive player option in favor of signing a new contract with a lower AAV but more long-term money overall. If, for example, Harden accepts a deal worth, say $100 million over three years, it, when coupled with the new, higher salary cap number, would fully unlock the team’s full mid-level exception and then some, in addition to the bi-annual exception which, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the team claims to have at their disposal heading into free agency.

If a trade for Tobias Harris is on the table, the Philadelphia 76ers very much should take it, but even if one doesn’t materialize, there’s still a chance the team could enter the weekend a much better team than they are now, which, considering the offseason has already been a resounding success thanks to the trade for De’Anthony Melton during the draft, would be pretty darn impressive stuff for a general manager known for turning nothing into something.