Tobias Harris is a talented combo forward that can give you 18 and 6 every night and shoot around 40% from three-point range.
Combine that with the fact that he is entering his prime at age 26, and you have a player that many teams would covet.
Harris is definitely assured of that as he reportedly turned down a four-year, $80 million extension from the Clippers this summer.
Clippers forward @tobias31 turns down $80 million extension offer from team, per sources. Amicable discussions. But he’ll play out final year of his current deal and be UFA next summer, when he’d be eligible for 5 yrs/$188M max from Clips or 4/$145.5 elsewhere.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 22, 2018
While it is true that many more teams anticipate to have cap space in 2019, the free agent market will also be deeper and there isn’t an infinite amount of money out there for teams to spend. The summer of 2019 still won’t be like the summer of 2016 when the cap rose dramatically and teams were anticipating it to rise much more than it has since.
Harris is betting on himself and may very well be able to garner as good or better offer next summer, but he is a good NBA starter, not a max player, especially now that he is entering his 8th NBA season and teams know what he is.
Turning down a four-year, $80 million contract may not be the most prescient decision by Harris, anything can happen over the next 12 months.
