Following five-plus years as a Sixer, Tobias Harris is heading back to Detroit.
Harris has agreed to go to the Pistons on a two-year, $52 million contract, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
Harris has played 157 of his 897 career games for the Pistons. His longest NBA stint yet is with the Sixers, who acquired him from the Clippers in February of 2019. After the team's heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Raptors in that year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, Harris then inked a five-year, $180 million deal to stay in Philadelphia.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Though he had some solid seasons and strong first-round playoff series, Harris failed to help the Sixers advance beyond Round 2. He went scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting in the Sixers’ season-ending loss to the Knicks this year.
“It was a tough year just because of the injuries that we had as a group,” Harris said. “I think that we definitely showed we have the talent in this locker room and on this team. I wish we would’ve had more time to jell, and to see it through and have everyone healthy.
“But it was an up and down year for us as a group. We were composed in this series. We definitely came out game after game and gave our all in this series. Just an unfortunate result.”
Over his tenure as a Sixer, Harris averaged 17.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists during the regular season. At the moment, his 575 made three-pointers rank fourth in Sixers history.
NBA
Detroit is in a decidedly different situation than the Sixers, who have picked up Paul George and plan to contend for a championship. Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson are among the youthful core pieces for a Pistons team that went an NBA-worst 14-68 last season.
Harris mentored youngsters like Tyrese Maxey and Ricky Council IV with the Sixers.
“I can’t even put everything into words,” Council said at his exit interview, “but he’s helped me a lot. He gets a lot of hate and I don’t know where it comes from. He’s a really good person. … The professionalism from Tobias is unreal. And that’s why I was glad I had him in my corner this whole year. I appreciate him for that, wherever he’s at next year.”