After five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, Tobias Harris finally said goodbye to the franchise. As soon as the postseason campaign ended for the Sixers, he knew it was time to move on. Therefore, Harris signed a two-year, $52 million deal with the Detroit Pistons in the offseason to begin a fresh chapter in his career. However, fans expected that after spending half a decade with the team, he’d bid farewell to the city of Philadelphia with some personal and emotional thoughts of his own. But they were wrong.
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Turns out, that 31-year-old’s farewell message to the 76ers franchise and fanbase was AI-generated. An Instagram handle by the name of “Philly Out of Context” used an AI-detection tool to analyze the message and found out that it was 99.19% AI-generated.
Except for the salutation “With Love”, Harris allegedly used an AI tool to write the lengthy farewell text. A Reddit user rolled out a post sharing this information, which opened the floodgates for trolling aimed at Harris in the r/nba subreddit.
Taking shots at Harris’ 76ers tenure, the user captioned the post, “Discovered by @phillyoutofcontext on Instagram, The heartfelt farewell message Tobias Harris put on his IG was fully AI written except the “With Love” ending. Even at that he couldnt give Sixers fans 100%”
Tobias Harris farewell message to Sixers on Instagram was 99.19% AI generated
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Many commenters took swipe at Harris’ efforts on the basketball floor, with one of them writing, “you cant fool me. Im familiar with your game.”
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Meanwhile, a lot of folks had fun with the acronym “AI”, which happens to be the moniker of 76ers legend Allen Iverson as well. One of the Reddit commenters wrote, “Don’t get why everyone’s in an uprorar, having Allen Iverson write your goodbye letter from Philly is really thoughtful!!”
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On the other hand, all NBA athletes who write similar farewell messages caught strays as well. As per a fan, such statements are more or less penned generically like AI programs, “Player goodbyes to teams were AI generated before AI existed. They’re all the same.”
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This instance proves the heavy scrutiny and trolling that an NBA athlete has to go through for the minutest of issues. But it’s not just NBA fans, many analysts and legends of the game have shown no mercy to the former 76ers forward.
When Kendrick Perkins mercilessly trolled Tobias Harris
One of the major reasons why Tobias Harris has been blasted by fans and media alike has been his disappearing acts during the playoffs. In the first-round series loss to the New York Knicks during the 2024 playoffs, Harris put up just 9 points a game, which was 8 points below his season average. In fact, he was held scoreless in Philly’s Game 6 loss.
His lack of contributions was one of the reasons why the 76ers faced an early exit. While reviewing the series on First Take, Kendrick Perkins took a shot at Harris with a hilarious analogy. He said,
“About Tobias Harris, let him go. I mean, damn! He asked them [the 76ers] if they wanted something from Chick-fil-A before the game, the team told him yes. And he came back with a bag full of napkins and straws. He was just a no-show at the [game].”
Therefore, Tobias Harris has had a difficult time navigating the sports media space. However, he’d hope that the move to the Detroit Pistons changes the perceptions about him. A lottery team will give him more wiggle room to operate freely.
