Detroit trading Tobias Harris was an epic mistake

[JRK]

Why do it?

Watching Tobias playing for the Clippers this season - he is really good. Almost an All-Star.

For me, everyone on this team was available for trade - just not him. And then - Pistons trade him.

Tobias is a good player and he continues to develop his game, he is getting better every year.

What a sad mistake!

[Mr Peanut]

I love Tobias, but Blake Griffin is in a different category altogether. Not to mention Harris is expiring this year and has already turned down an extension of $20M/yr, so can definitely see his yearly salary will not be far off Blake's come next season.

[Billl]

Building your team around a bunch of "almost all-stars" is not a smart decision ..... especially when the max contract rules make their salary about the same as actual star players.

[flow]

Clippers have a sneaky little team this year. Look out for them.

[The Penguin]

Including the pick was an epic mistake. The Clippers were thrilled to get off Blake's deal and hunt for FAs this summer and next summer. They would have done the deal without the pick, that was Stan getting played. Miles Bridges might be this year's "Donovan Mitchell" and he's a local guy too. That one is going to hurt.

[Uncle Mxy]

Detroit trading Boban Marjanovic was an epic mistake

Fixed.

[Drwho17]

Tobias Harris is a good improving player, but he's not Blake Griffin but he's about to get paid like him. Tobias had really good stretches here, but I think he has a bit of a passive personality at times which keeps him from being a true star.

[Moses ShamMoses]

meh, as much as I liked Tobias he was never taking this team anywhere. He is a really good second option but always seemed to struggle as a go-to option late in games. Giving up the First rounder was what still stings.

[thesack12]

Paying Caldwell-Pope what he wanted would have been an "epic mistake."

Trading Tobias for a better player in Blake Griffin doesn't come anywhere near epic mistake territory.

[Spider156]

I love Tobias, but Blake Griffin is in a different category altogether. Not to mention Harris is expiring this year and has already turned down an extension of $20M/yr, so can definitely see his yearly salary will not be far off Blake's come next season.

Yeah Tobias becoming really good this season is better for us. We're not missing out on giving him 30m a year. He turned down 20 and if he's outplaying that contract then I wouldn't be surprised if he was to get maxed out this offseason. I've seen it time and time again. Truth of the matter is, he's not as good as Blake and there is not getting to Blake's strength and how's been playing. If Tobias gets 30m a year that's 40m a year we gave up for Blake's contract. The move was great for us so far.

[Manocad]

A bigger mistake was clicking on this thread.

[buzzkilloton]

The mistake in that trade wasnt letting T.harris go though he was pretty good. The mistake was moving a draft pick and locking ourselves into a near 30 Blake for 5 seasons. Blakes good now but he will get hurt again because hes Blake. Even with a healthy Blake were still the same chasing a playoff seed team we were with T. Harris.

I know we wont actually do it but this would be a awesome time to just move Blake and Drummond and rebuild. I actually think Blake would return good value now would be a good time to start shopping him Jerry West style.

[thesack12]

Bump...

In a free agent class including Kawhi/Durant/Kyrie/Kemba/Butler/Klay, Tobias managed to get the 2nd biggest contract, only behind Klay. Granted a lot of that had to do with most of those guys changing teams, thus only being able to sign 4 year contracts. Still his annual salary is right there with all those guys.

Tobias is going to make $41 mil at the age of 31 in 2023-24. Blake's contract peaks at $39 mil at the age of 32 in 2021-22.

[El Chivo]

The biggest gain of the trade was prevent us to overpay a good but far from great player like Harris, instead.

[Snakebites]

The Clips flipped him into a pretty good package at the deadline.

Coulda been us...

[MotownMadness]

The Clips flipped him into a pretty good package at the deadline.

Coulda been us...

To sign Kawhi Leonard as a game plan which wouldnt have been us cause thats not possible. We would have resigned Tobias cause we cant even get that level of player in FA and would want that over Landry Shamet

[DBC10]

The Clips flipped him into a pretty good package at the deadline.

Coulda been us...

Shamet is really good and that 2021 unprotected Miami pick can be a potential game changer too. Would've been nice.

[Snakebites]

The Clips flipped him into a pretty good package at the deadline.

Coulda been us...

To sign Kawhi Leonard as a game plan which wouldnt have been us cause thats not possible. We would have resigned Tobias cause we cant even get that level of player in FA and would want that over Landry Shamet

No. I liked the package they got for Tobias on its own merit.

[Cowology]

It's questionable whether Tobias would have had the same value had he stayed here. We have a fairly extensive history of trading players and watching them succeed elsewhere.

[Moses ShamMoses]

I doubt we would have actually traded Tobias for picks. More likely, since we were looking to compete for the 8th seed, we are the ones to sign him to the big deal or he walks.