After Years Of Getting Booed In Philly, Tobias Harris Had An NSFW Message For Sixers Fans

Tobias Harris knows the Philadelphia crowd like the palm of his hand. Two years after parting ways with the Sixers, Harris sent a message in a language that the Philly crowd was all too familiar with.

As Harris’ team, the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons, blew out the Sixers in their own arena on Saturday, the 15-year veteran turned to the crowd inside Xfinity Mobile Arena and audaciously predicted their squad’s postseason fate.

“Get ready for the f**king play-in,” Harris said.

Harris’ taunt is savage but far from unprovoked. And, in the hostile environment that is Philly sports culture, it wasn’t out of place, either.

In his five-year stint with the 76ers, the 6-foot-8 forward heard it all, adulation and jeers alike. The Philadelphia crowd is known for being demanding of their sports teams, and on multiple occasions, they mercilessly booed Harris when he wasn’t productive enough on the hardcourt.

Back in January 2022, the booing got so bothersome that Harris clapped back at Philly fans, hurling NSFW language during a Sixers-Rockets game.

“It was obviously frustration. I understand that our fanbase boos at times,” Harris said days after his retaliatory act. “They also cheer for us louder than anybody.”

If the Philadelphia fanbase could express their displeasure towards Harris when he was an inhabitant of their locker room, imagine the vitriol they were willing to unload when Harris signed with the Pistons in the 2024 offseason. And that’s exactly what happened when the Sixers hosted Harris’ new squad in the early goings of the 2024-25 campaign.

Here’s what Ky Carlin of USA Today’s Sixers Wire wrote about Harris’ return game in Philadelphia: “Harris was booed mercilessly from the Sixers crowd in his return. He was booed during intros, booed whenever he touched the ball, and even was booed during a tribute video during the first timeout of the night.”

It’s clear, then, that Harris was delivering a receipt when he taunted Sixers fans this past weekend. Nothing personal, just good old-fashioned trash talk between an intense fanbase and a player who knows their game all too well. Whether Sixers fans like it or not, Harris’ prediction about their play-in fate could very well come to pass.