There was another time when the Philadelphia 76ers had to decide whether to pay a lot of money to a player who might not perform up to that level, or risk losing him. Tobias Harris ended up making more money than any other Sixer for the past three years due to that decision.
The contract situation with James Harden is eerily similar to the circumstances involving Tobias Harris in the summer of 2019. The Sixers ‘management‘ at the time went all-in, on the 6-foot-8 forward, and awarded him a five-year, $180 million contract.