Tim Hardaway - NBA Career

NBA Career

In his rookie season, Hardaway wore number "5", as Manute Bol wore Hardaway's "10". After Bol left the Warriors, Hardaway inherited it. With the Warriors, he was part of "Run TMC" (the initials of the players' first names, and a play on the title of the popular rap group Run DMC) which was the high-scoring trio of himself, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin. As part of the Warriors' attack, Hardaway was responsible for leading Run TMC's fast break, displaying his excellent passing and one-on-one skills to complement Richmond's slashing and Mullin's shooting. Hardaway played for the Warriors until the middle of 1995–96 season when he was traded to the Miami Heat along with Chris Gatling in exchange for Kevin Willis and Bimbo Coles.

In his best seasons, Hardaway averaged 18 to 23 points and 8 to 10 assists per game. He reached 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any other NBA player, except Oscar Robertson. Hardaway also competed in five NBA All-Star Games. He was once the Miami Heat's all-time leader in assists, and together with center Alonzo Mourning led the Heat to some of the franchise's best seasons. Late season injuries kept Hardaway from performing at the peak of his abilities for almost all of the Heat's playoff runs, and he missed most of the playoff games.

He was an MVP candidate following the 1996–97 season, making it to the All-NBA First Team after leading the Heat to the best record in franchise history while averaging 20.3 points, 8.6 assists, and being fourth in the league with 203 three-point baskets.

With his skills declining with age, Hardaway was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on August 22, 2001, for a second-round draft pick. With Dallas, Hardaway was mainly utilized off the bench, starting only two games out of 54 and averaging almost ten points a game. In the middle of the season, he was traded to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for controversial point guard Nick Van Exel. With the Nuggets he started all fourteen games he played with them before retiring and becoming a basketball analyst for ESPN. While playing for the Nuggets, Hardaway was suspended for two games and fined $10,000 by the league when he threw a television monitor onto the court. On March 27, 2003, Hardaway signed a contract with the Indiana Pacers, and in his first game registered a season-high fourteen points and seven assists against the Chicago Bulls.