How Tobias Harris and Boban Marjanović Went From a Rocky First Impression to NBA BFFs (Exclusive)

Known as the duo Tobi and Bobi, the best friends and former teammates tell PEOPLE their friendship got off to a rough start in the Detroit Pistons locker room

Before they were known as Tobi and Bobi, NBA players and current best friends Tobias Harris and Boban Marjanović got off to a rocky start.

"My first impression was he's not that nice of a guy," Harris, 31, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive joint interview with former teammate Marjanović, 35, who he initially had heard is "the nicest guy ever."

The athletes met in 2016 playing for the Detroit Pistons, and Harris says the first words Marjanović said to him were, "I don't like you."

Marjanović, a 7-foot-4 center who now plays for the Houston Rockets, admits this is how their relationship really began. "We started to play a pickup game, and I said he didn't want to pass me the ball," he says.

"Then we were in the locker room, and I said, 'Tobias, I don't like you,' and he was confused," Marjanović recalls. "That time, maybe I made a mistake, but conversation is the best way to figure it out."

After the guys got to know each other, Marjanović says they discovered many shared interests and started to develop "that friendship energy."

Harris says they were "cool" by the following day, and agrees it all came down to communicating both on and off the court.

"I think it was funny because you always hear these stories about how he's the nicest guy ever. And one of my conversations is he's telling me that he doesn't like me. So I'm like, 'Dang, what's going on?' And then from there, he hit it on top of the head, it's just kind of a communication thing," he explains, responding to Marjanović's "upfront and straightforward" nature.

The player adds, "And it was so funny because the next day we were already really good friends."

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In 2018, both Harris and Marjanović were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, which strengthened their bond further and ultimately branded the besties as the Bobi and Tobi duo among NBA fans.

"We had a very close team in Detroit, so we all would hang out and that grew our friendship. And when we were traded, that grew our friendship even more," says Harris.

Although Harris currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers, miles away from his best friend, he says Marjanović is "like family" now.

"He knows my family, my brothers, my sisters and everybody. So everybody looks at Bobi, even in my family, like we're all family at the end of the day," says Harris, who tied the knot with his longtime love, Jasmine Winton, last year.

Marjanović couldn't attend the ceremony due to an obligation to play basketball for his team in Serbia, but Harris tells PEOPLE that the Eastern European athlete's wife, Milica Krstić, attended without him.

"Bobi couldn't attend because he was playing, but his wife was able to be there and it really showed that our friendship, and our wives' as well, is bigger than just basketball or some of the things that we do for social media," he says, adding: "And that's always been kind of our whole deal."

Fandom for the Bobi and Tobi duo grew when they began starring in commercials together for  Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

As a new NBA season approaches, the guys are back with the popular snack brand and offering college students the chance to win an extra large, "Boban-sized" bag of Goldfish crackers delivered right to their campus addresses. The one-of-a-kind bags stand over a foot tall and hold 2,000 Goldfish, enough for a semester of snacking.

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Along with the giveaway, the new campaign follows Boban as he shows how a handful of Goldfish can bring a smile to universal college moments, like navigating orientation and meeting new roommates.

Harris estimates they could finish one of Goldfish's "Boban-sized" bags in just a couple of hours, "knowing the way that me and Bobi eat," he jokes, before warning: "We're not recommending anybody do that though."

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