Tobias Harris has been playing great basketball for the Detroit Pistons this postseason, but at the same time, he’s slowly costing the team millions of future dollars. Harris will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and his current playoff run is undoubtedly adding a ton of money to the price tag he will ultimately command this offseason.
Detroit will almost certainly look to bring him back, as he has been an integral piece of their new-look, top-of-the-conference roster for the past two seasons. Losing him would be a brutal blow to the team on the court and in the locker room. But with how well he has played, the Pistons may have to pay more than they anticipated.
It’s hard to nail down an exact number, but Harris should get a pretty penny in free agency.
Tobias Harris' playoff run may earn him more money in free agency
Heading into the postseason, there was a ton of criticism surrounding the Pistons and their lack of movement at the trade deadline, particularly because of their lack of a secondary offensive option.
Cade Cunningham was going to have to do it all, and so far in the playoffs, he has been. But the Pistons still need a guy who can step up consistently alongside him on the offensive end.
And somewhat surprisingly, Harris has been that guy. Not Jalen Duren, who has struggled. Not Ausar Thompson, who is a defense-first guy. Not even Duncan Robinson and his elite three-point shot. It has been Harris.
Through the Pistons’ first 10 games of playoff action, Harris hasn’t just been a solid scoring option. He has been a legitimate secondary threat, backing up Cunningham every step of the way.
So far this postseason, Harris has averaged 21.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks while shooting 46.7% from the floor and 32.7% from deep range on 4.9 three-point attempts per contest.
He’s been everything the Pistons could have wanted him to be (minus some three-point efficiency), but that also means they will probably have to up his payday this summer.
Harris is currently in the last year of a two-year, $52 million contract. He probably won’t get that quite that much again, considering he is 33 years old, but it may not be too far off.
And it seems inevitable that Harris and his representation use this year’s playoff run as a means to get him more money this summer. That's just the business of basketball.
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