“Those MFFL Fans, That’s Real.” Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas Mavericks proving perfect fit

2019 offseason and preseason

While Hardaway healed, the Dallas Mavericks front office enjoyed a hotter-than-average Texas summer, headlined by locking Porziņģis into a five-year, $158 million extension. In addition to catching their big fish, the team reeled in high-value free agents in Seth Curry, Delon Wright, and Boban Marjanovic. Minding his minnows, Mark Cuban also retained Maxi Kleber and Dorian Finney-Smith, a pair of younger, integral role players. Dallas walked away from the free agency period as one of the NBA’s clear offseason winners.

Hardaway was cleared as one hundred percent healthy in late September and entered the 2019-20 campaign with no physical limitations. Away from the team for months, Hardaway had to endure grueling offseason recovery by himself. “You have nobody telling you what you can and cannot do, so, you have to be really a true pro in the summertime,” he shared.

After the first day of training camp, Carlisle called Hardaway one of the Mavericks “top players” and praised his offseason rehab efforts. Despite having started 17 of his first 19 games with Dallas, though, Hardaway was no shoo-in for a starting role in the upcoming season. The free-agent signings of Curry and Wright created a pseudo-logjam on the perimeter, and head coach Rick Carlisle was tasked with using the preseason to sort it all out.

In his two preseason starts, Hardaway produced his lowest point totals (3 and 10) of the five exhibition games, while shooting a combined 5-of-17 from the field and 3-of-10 from 3-point range. In stark contrast, he averaged 15 points per game in his three games off the bench, shooting a combined 16-of-33 from the field and 9-of-18 from deep. The decision wasn’t too tricky: Hardaway Jr. would open the 2019-20 regular season coming off the bench. The Dallas Mavericks rolled on to the regular season.