7 X-factors who could shape the 2020-21 NBA season

3. Tobias Harris

It’s been a rough start to Tobias Harris’ career with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was the fourth-wheel in the months following his arrival at the 2019 deadline, a role he was a bit overqualified for after averaging north of 20 points a night as a Clipper. He was then shoehorned into the starting small forward spot that summer, a position he’s primarily abandoned for the last several years, following the addition of Al Horford.

Harris still wound up playing most of his minutes at power forward. Philly tried its best to stagger his minutes alongside both Horford and Embiid. But like everyone else on the Sixers throughout the year, the personnel wasn’t conducive to foster success on account of the lack of volume 3-point shooting.

Of the two-man lineups featuring Harris for more than 500 minutes last season, only two came alongside 40.0 percent 3-point shooters. Those combos ranked fifth (Furkan Korkmaz) and seventh (Shake Milton) in total minutes.

He is the unofficial third in a trio alongside Embiid and Ben Simmons if only because he is Philly’s highest-paid player at $33.5 million for the 2020-21 season.

As good a shooter as he is in his own right, Harris requires teammates to make life easier for his bully ball style of play. The Sixers failed him in that regard last season. The addition of Danny Green and Seth Curry — while subtracting Horford — finally offer Harris the chance to validate his presence in the City of Brotherly Love.