Sixers trade for Tobias Harris

This is why Barkley was right....players can on a whim destroy their franchises.

Bleacher Report grades the trade.



Philadelphia 76ers Receive: Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, Mike Scott

Los Angeles Clippers Receive: Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, Landry Shamet, 2020 first-round pick (lottery protection), 2021 first-round pick (unprotected from Miami, via Philadelphia), 2021 second-round pick (from Detroit, via Philadelphia), 2023 second-round pick (from Detroit, via Philadelphia)



Grades

Sixers: C+

Harris is a ridiculously good player—a fringe All-Star who's comfortable pulling up off the dribble but no stranger to leveraging his catch-and-shoot touch. He's banging in more than 40 percent of his spot-up threes this season.

But the Sixers are taking a huge risk. Harris is the second marquee player they've acquired on an expiring contract this season, and his fit, while still intriguing, is a bit more prickly with Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons all in tow. Don't even get me started about what this means for Markelle Fultz.

Selling Harris on a predominantly accessory role won't be easy. It helps that the Sixers are willing to pay him. They plan to keep this Fab Four together beyond this season, per ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski. That opens up a whole other world of concerns with Harris and Butler (player option) on track for max or near-max paydays.

Give both the full boat this summer, and the Sixers are looking at a $130 million-ish bill for their four-player nucleus once Simmons' next deal takes effect in 2020-21. That's a ton of coin for a quartet not assured of housing more than one top-10 player (Embiid).

Some have speculated Harris' arrival might portend Butler's departure. That's a doomsday scenario. Harris will have an easier time as the third scoring option, but the Sixers need to have more than him to show for burning through Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Landry Shamet, two first-round picks and three second-rounders in the same season.

This isn't a death knell. The Sixers are built for now, and they might come out of the East. Elements of this trade will play out over the next few months. In the meantime, Philly is saddling itself with an uncomfortable amount of risk for a core that doesn't profile as the cleanest fit.



Clippers: A

Major props to the Clippers for prioritizing the big picture over a seventh- or eighth-place finish in the Western Conference. They're trying to build something more meaningful than a fringe playoff contender, and selling high on Harris jibes with that theme.

Not much changes about their salary-cap outlook. They will sleepwalk their way to more than $50 million in space if they waive Avery Bradley ($2 million guarantee for next season). That was true before. But they needed to let Harris walk for nothing. At least this way they're picking up a quality backcourt prospect and four picks—one of which, the 2021 Miami selection, is scorching-hot property.

Jettisoning Harris does bilk the Clippers of their offseason contingency. They no longer have a fringe star to pivot into if they don't land Kawhi Leonard and/or Kevin Durant over the summer, but they'll be fine. They now have the draft equity to crash the Anthony Davis sweepstakes if they leak into July and are capable of taking swings at whatever other stars might become available.

In the event the Clippers end up needing a second max-contract slot, they'll have to dump Danilo Gallinari. They can gauge his market now, but his back injury complicates matters. They're better off waiting for the summer, when they'll know if they need that flexibility, and when there will be scores of jilted free-agency suitors searching for worthwhile alternatives.

As an added bonus, essentially removing themselves from the playoff running this year means the Clippers probably won't convey their lottery-protected pick to the Celtics. That protection carries over into next season but turns into a 2022 second-rounder if it doesn't get sent to Boston by 2020.