Tobias Harris is trolling the Sixers’ decision to replace him with Paul George. Will he get the last laugh?
George’s first season in Philly was a disaster, leading some fans to believe his acquisition was a bad move. And Harris, who played well in Detroit, is making fun of Sixers fans.
Time will tell if Tobias Harris gets the last laugh in the 76ers’ decision to replace him with Paul George.
But George’s first season in Philly was a disaster, leading some fans to believe his acquisition was a bad move. And Harris, who had a successful season with the Detroit Pistons, trolled the decision Monday after George’s comments in a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George.
In a 40-second snippet of the podcast posted on X, George revealed an exchange he had with a fan while trying to drive through a celebratory crowd on Broad Street after the Eagles’ NFC championship victory on Jan. 27. The nine-time All-Star was spotted while stuck in traffic.
“As soon as I roll the window down, they are like this,” said George, moving his head side to side on the episode of his podcast. “‘Yo, that’s Paul George. That is Paul George.’ One [person] said, ‘We could have kept Tobias. We could have kept Tobias if you are going to do this [expletive].’
“Shout-out TB. It ain’t no joke at TB. It was funny, but it’s like some [expletive] you take to the heart. Like, ‘You are right. Facts. I got you.’”
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Harris clapped back in a quote tweet of the post with, “After the parade … 4-27,″ followed by a clock, basketball, right arrow and laughing emojis along with a photo of him smoking a cigar.
The forward was pointing out the Sixers’ record from the day the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.
The Sixers took a 20-31 record into their Feb. 9 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. They lost that contest en route to finishing 4-27 in their final 31 games to post a 24-58 record.
Meanwhile, Harris had a hand in helping the Pistons pull off an unprecedented turnaround.
Detroit finished 44-38 one season after winning a league-worst 14 games. The Pistons’ 30-game improvement was the best by an NBA team that won fewer than 20 games the previous season.
In the first round of the playoffs, Detroit lost to the New York Knicks in six games.
Harris averaged 15.7 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 43.5% on three-pointers during the series. This came after the 32-year-old averaged 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in 73 regular-season games.
While those numbers are below his career averages of 16.1 points and 6.2 rebounds, the 14-year NBA veteran was recognized for being the team leader.
Harris played the previous 5½ seasons in Philly, where Sixers fans criticized him for not living up to a five-year, $180 million contract.
George was expected to be an upgrade.
However, he averaged 16.2 points, the fourth-lowest average of his 15 NBA seasons, after signing a four-year, $211.5 million maximum-salary contract on July 6 to form a Big Three with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
The low point of his season came in the Sixers’ 100-96 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 12 at the Barclays Center. With Embiid and Maxey sidelined, George was expected to carry the Sixers’ scoring load.
Instead, he had two points on 1-for-7 shooting to go with six rebounds, four assists, two steals, three blocks, and three turnovers.
It was revealed the next day that George had been taking pain medicine to play.
The 35-year-old missed six games from March 6-16 while consulting with doctors about treatment options for his ailing left groin and left knee. He subsequently received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and his knee and was ruled out for the remainder of the season on March 17.
But George, who missed 41 games, had been dealing with injuries since the preseason.
George was sidelined three weeks after hyperextending his left knee, which led to a bone bruise, during an Oct. 14 preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks. The California native suffered the same injury during the Sixers’ Nov. 20 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
He also was hampered by left groin soreness, right ankle soreness, and a torn tendon in his left little finger.
“To be honest, it was one of the toughest seasons for me, just with a lot of adversity on the court, off the court,” George said in April. “The injury stuff … was some stuff I didn’t necessarily know I had going on until deep diving and finding out.
“There was other stuff I didn’t know that was causing my limitations, which was frustrating — not being able to do things I normally could do, and finding out the reason why. Those things are being addressed, so that’s the positive.”
He vows to come back healthier and play at a higher level next season.
But at this moment, Harris is making fun of the Sixers’ decision to let him go.