3 76ers Who Won't Be Back in 2024
By Jovan Alford
The Philadelphia 76ers saw their season end in tough fashion as they lost in six games to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs. It wasn’t the ending that most Sixer fans were hoping for to start the Nick Nurse era.
The Sixers have a ton of free agents this offseason, including Tobias Harris, Kelly Oubre Jr., Kyle Lowry, Cam Payne, Buddy Hield, etc, who may not be back with the team next year. The Sixers understand that to compete in the east with the Boston Celtics, the bench has to improve and they need that to find that third scorer.
Given that the Sixers will have an exuberant amount of cap space, they should be able to make substantial upgrades. However, it also means some players will be elsewhere in the 2024-25 season.
1. Tobias Harris
A good amount of Sixers fans could not wait until the team’s final game was over because it officially ended the Tobias Harris era.
Harris’ tenure was filled with mixed results, as he was one of their most consistent players in the regular season, but couldn’t bring that same play to the postseason. In this year’s playoffs against the Knicks, Harris struggled to be that third scoring option.
The veteran forward scored nine points per game on 43.1 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent from deep. Harris contributed 7.2 rebounds per game, which is solid for a team that struggled on the glass most of the series.
However, Harris left Sixers fans with a bad taste in their mouths as he posted zero points, four rebounds, and three assists in 29 minutes in Game 6. The 31-year-old wasn’t aggressive and only took two shots.
The veteran forward averaged 17.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 33.8 minutes per game this season, which isn’t bad for a player of his caliber. But when you are a player making max money (five-year, $180 million) like Harris was; there are a lot of expectations on a team with championship aspirations.
If Harris wasn’t getting an AAV salary of $36M per year, he probably wouldn’t have gotten a ton of slack for some of his performances. However, no one should blame him for taking that money, as he was the best option for the Sixers and will certainly find a new home in 2024-25.