30 NBA players that got better after leaving their first team

30 NBA players who got better after leaving their first team: 22. Tobias Harris

Tobias Harris had basically become of a meme. Most of that is due to his enormous contract size. While he eventually became worth every penny of the 180 million the Philadelphia 76ers paid him, it took some time.

Harris was an elite recruit in high school but did not fully live up to that billing at the University of Tennessee, leading to him being drafted 19th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2011. As a rookie, Harris only received 11.4 minutes per game and left much to be desired. He struggled to get a bigger role in his second season and was shipped out at the deadline to the Orlando Magic where things started to change. To end the season for the Magic, Harris averaged 17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 blocks per game. He was finally showing exactly what the Bucks had been missing.

He would spend the next two and a half seasons with the Magic, continuing to hone his craft. He was traded to the Detroit Pistons at the trade deadline in 2016 and he would transform into a borderline All-Star for a Pistons team built around Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond. He would help push that team to the postseason in his first half-season, averaging 16.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists. While they did make the playoffs as an 8th seed, they would get swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Harris was traded again two years later as part of the package for Blake Griffin and would again help push his new team, this time the LA Clippers, into the postseason. Finally, Harris was traded again to the Philadelphia 76ers where he continues to breakout. Harris was a borderline All-Star this season and is thriving as the second option on offense behind Joel Embiid for one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Currently, he’s averaging a career-high 20.9 points per game.