Any team wanting to pry soon-to-be restricted free agent Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic reportedly would have to be willing to offer at least $13 million per year. Teams linked to the Magic forward are said to include the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Los Angeles is reportedly one of the handful of teams interested in Harris this summer. But if the Lakers - or any other team - want Harris, Basketball Insiders' Steve Kyler reports it'd cost upwards of $13 million annually.
"Harris is believed to be obtainable in free agency even though the Magic plan to issue a qualifying offer and restrict his free agency," Kyler wrote Thursday. "There have been a number of teams linked to Harris including the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and even Atlanta Hawks.
"The Magic have the means to match anything offered to Harris in free agency. ... The belief is that the Magic would match almost anything under $13 million a season, the question is will Harris get an offer sheet worth more than that number in July and will the Magic budge off their price range?"
The Lakers' top targets in free agency appear to be Dallas Mavericks guard Rajon Rondo, followed by either Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic or possibly Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson. While the Lakers could have around $20 million in useable cap space next season, it seems unlikely they would commit anything close to $13 million per year on Harris.
New York is believed to be the most interested of the aforementioned teams in acquiring Harris. The Knicks seemingly would have enough cap space to sign one of their big targets - such as Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, Rondo or Dragic - to a max deal and possibly still have enough to sign a secondary free agent to a deal in the $10-12 million per year price range.
