NBA Rumors: Tobias Harris Will Be Back On Trade Block

While the Ben Simmons trade rumors were swirling around the Philadelphia 76ers, an accompanying rumor about the team trying to attach Tobias Harris to any Simmons trade started making the rounds. The Sixers were looking to clear cap space, according to the talk. But now that GM Daryl Morey has already successfully dealt Simmons and gotten his man, James Harden, it seems the Harris rumors haven't gone away.

NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, on his Hoop Collective podcast, insists the Sixers will be looking to unload Harris' $37M salary in the offseason. The goal would be to have the space to bring in a 3rd star player to join Joel Embiid and Harden.

I’ve talked to league executives because I’m asking league executives a lot about Philly and everyone’s seen them for just a brief period of time. But they’re already speculating what Tobias Harris trades they might look at this summer.

According to fellow ESPN Insider Zach Lowe, the theory making the rounds is that Harden and Morey are already conspiring to land a 3rd star, but purging Harris would be a necessity. 

This is the one going around the league that James Harden..." said Lowe, "(is) going to decline his option, re-sign for less money, so that Philadelphia can dump Tobias Harris into somebody's cap space and open up, if they dump some other people, an almost, almost, almost max slot for a third star."

Harris already knows his role will be reduced somewhat the rest of the season with the acquisition of Harden, and he's accepted it. “Everyone has this notion of you’ve got to score this many points or that,” Harris told Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I get it, but at the end of the day like I said, I’m a winner and I [contribute] to winning basketball. If that is me taking 15 shots, if that’s me taking eight shots, it is what it is. As long as we’re winning basketball games, that’s what the name of the game is about."

It's only been three games with the new-look Embiid/Harden lineup, but with three blowout wins, the Sixers seem to have more than enough firepower, no matter how many shots Harris contributes.

Photo Credit: Mitchell Leff-USA TODAY Sports