Early career

Hardaway was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from Carver Area High School there. Then he attended the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and played under coach Don Haskins, a future member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Hardaway was twice named MVP of El Paso's Sun Bowl Invitational Tournament, in 1987 and 1988, and he played on teams that went to the NCAA Tournaments in 1988 and 1989. At UTEP he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the best college player in the nation six feet (1.83 m) tall or under.

Hardaway was selected as the 14th pick of the first round, in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.

NBA career

Golden State Warriors

In his rookie season, Hardaway wore number "5", as Manute Bol wore Hardaway's "10". After Bol left the Warriors, Hardaway inherited it. Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin formed "Run TMC" (the initials of the players' first names and a play on the name of the popular rap group Run DMC). 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. Golden State made the playoffs during the 1990-1991 season, Hardaway's second season and his first season in the playoffs. In the first round, the 7th seeded Warriors defeated the 2nd seeded San Antonio Spurs led by All-Star David Robinson in 4 games to advance to face the 3rd seeded Los Angeles Lakers led by NBA legend Magic Johnson. The Warriors managed to steal a game on the road in game 2, but could not defeat the more experienced Lakers, falling in 5 games despite Hardaway averaging 26.8 points, 12.8 assists and 3.8 steals for the series.

Hardaway averaged a career high 23.4 points a game in the 1991-1992 season, as the Warriors fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Seattle SuperSonics. The following season Hardaway averaged a career high 10.6 assists a game to get with his scoring average of 21.5, but the Warriors did not make the playoffs and would not return to postseason action for the remainder of Hardaway's tenure with the team. As a Warrior, Hardaway made the NBA All-Star Game three straight years, and a knee injury kept him out of the entire 1993-1994 season. He reached 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any other NBA player except Oscar Robertson. 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.

Miami Heat

Following the midseason trade to Miami, Hardaway started 28 games to finish the season, averaging 17.2 points a game with 10 assists. Miami made the playoffs but were swept in the first round by the 72 win Chicago Bulls. The following season was a huge success for Miami and for Hardaway, as he finished 4th in voting for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, was selected to the All-NBA First Team as Miami won a franchise record 61 wins. Hardaway started in 81 games, averaging 20.3 points, 8.6 assists, while placing fourth in the league with 203 three-point baskets. He also played in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, scoring 10 points in 14 minutes. In the playoffs, Hardaway averaged 26 points a game as the Heat defeated the Orlando Magic in the first round in 5 games, and then defeated the New York Knicks in 7 games in the semifinals, in which Hardaway scored 38 points in the 7th game. Miami would once again fall to the defending champion Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals in 5 games.

In the 1997-1998 NBA Season, Hardaway averaged 18.9 points and 8.3 assist per game, and was selected to play in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. The Heat won 55 games and won the Atlantic Division, but lost to the Knicks in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs. In the lockout shortened 1998-1999 season, Hardaway averaged 17.4 points a game with 7..3 assists, and Miami won the Atlantic Division again but could once again not defeat the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs despite having home court advantage and the Knicks being the 8th seed in the playoffs.

Hardaway's production slipped in the 1999-2000 season, with Alonzo Mourning and Jamal Mashburn carrying more of the offensive load. Hardaway averaged 13.4 points with 7.4 assists a game, but shot a personal best .367 percent from beyond the three point arc. After playing just 52 games, Hardaway was further limited in the playoffs, as Miami defeated the Detroit Pistons but once again fell to New York in 7 games. That summer Hardaway and Mourning won a gold medal playing for the U.S.A. men's basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Before the 2000-2001 season Mourning would be diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, and would be sidelined for much of the season. Hardaway upped his offensive production to 14.9 points a game with 6.3 assists a game as Miami won 53 games and captured the East's third best record, only to be swept in the first round by the Charlotte Hornets.

Dallas Mavericks

Following the 2001 season, and with his skills declining with age, Hardaway was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on August 22, 2001, for a second-round draft pick. He was at one time Miami's all-time leader in assists. 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.

Denver Nuggets

Hardaway 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.

Indiana Pacers

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. By the end of his career, Hardaway competed in five NBA All-Star Games.

Coaching career

On August 7, 2014, it was announced that Hardaway was named an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons.

Achievements

Hardaway was the 1989 WAC Player of the Year.

Hardaway recorded 5,000 points and 2,500 assists, second fastest in NBA history after Oscar Robertson. Hardaway accomplished it in 262 games; Robertson took only 247. Hardaway held the record for most assists in Miami Heat franchise history with 1,947, until his total was surpassed by Dwyane Wade on January 16, 2010. Hardaway shares the record for second most steals in an NBA Playoffs game, with 8 in Game 2 of the 1991 Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers and in Game 4 of the 1992 Western Conference First Round against the Seattle SuperSonics.

In 1991-92, Hardaway became the 7th player in NBA history to average 20 points (23.4 ppg) and 10 assists (10.0 apg) in a season, a feat he accomplished again in 1992-93 (21.5 ppg, 10.6 apg).

Hardaway holds the NBA record for the worst single-game shooting performance in NBA history, going 0-for-17 in a 106-102 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 27, 1991. Hardaway holds the Miami Heat's all-time record in 3pt field goals made, with 806. Hardaway's number 10 was retired by the Miami Heat on October 28, 2009.

National team career

Hardaway was originally selected to play for "Dream Team II" in the 1994 World Basketball Championship but was replaced after suffering a torn knee ligament.

He was also selected (as one of the last two players selected) for the 1998 World Basketball Championship team. The team was later replaced with CBA and college players due to the NBA lockout.

In 2000, he finally got his opportunity to play before the world stage in the Sydney Olympics where he scored 5.5 points/Game and shot .385 (15- 39) from the field.

In September 2009, he played for the "NBA Generations" team in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge, a series of exhibitions against Korean Basketball League and Philippine Basketball Association players.

Homophobia controversy

During a February 14, 2007 interview on a Miami sports radio show, in response to the coming out of former NBA player John Amaechi, Hardaway remarked that he would try to distance himself from a player he knew was homosexual. When asked by the radio show host whether he realized that his remarks were homophobic, Hardaway responded by saying: "Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States." He also said that if he found out he had one or more gay teammates, he would try to get them fired.

Later in the day, Hardaway apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that." He further apologized on February 15 in a statement released by his agent. On the same day, the NBA responded to Hardaway's comments by removing him from its All-Star Weekend activities later that week. Hardaway's employer, Trinity Sports, owner of the Anderson-based CBA Indiana Alley Cats, dismissed him from his position as Chief Basketball Operations Advisor, and the CBA issued a statement distancing itself from Hardaway's remarks.

In a September 2007 interview, Hardaway spoke about his February comments, saying he "had no idea how much I hurt people. A lot of people." He described the controversy as "the biggest bump in my life", and added, "I'm going to do whatever I can to correct it. That's all I can do."

In an interview on February 11, 2010, on Hardcore Sports Radio on Sirius, Hardaway spoke about his recent work with The Trevor Project and The YES Institute, which he has done to educate himself on LGBT issues.

In April 2013, when Jason Collins came out as the first active openly gay male player in a major American professional team sport, Collins claimed that Hardaway called him in support of his homosexuality. In July 2013, Hardaway was the symbolic first signer of a petition to put a proposed amendment to the Florida State Constitution overturning Florida Amendment 2 and allowing same-sex marriage in his home state of Florida on the ballot in 2014.

Personal life

He has a wife, Yolanda, and two children, Tim Jr. and Nia. His son, Tim Jr., was drafted by the New York Knicks in 2013. Tim Hardaway currently lives in Miami, Florida. He was a player/head coach of the Florida Pit Bulls of the ABA in 2006.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]