Tim Heitman/Getty Images
The Mavericks’ Game 5 Final loss to the Boston Celtics might have been Tim Hardaway Jr.’s final game in Dallas, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
“League sources say that the Mavericks will promptly resume their long-running search for a trade partner to take Hardaway on,” Stein wrote.
Hardaway is heading into the final season of the four-year deal he signed with the Mavericks in 2021.
The veteran, who played limited minutes during the Mavericks’ playoff run, is set to play on an expiring $16.2 million contract next season before entering unrestricted free agency in 2025.
That marks a decrease from the $17.9 million salary he earned last season, thanks to the frontloaded contract he signed with the Mavericks after moving into their starting rotation at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
Since then, however, Hardaway has played decreasing minutes off the bench, and Stein reported last July that the Mavericks were attempting to trade him following the 2022-23 season.
With two seasons and $34.1 million remaining on Hardaway’s deal, the Mavericks were unable to find a trade partner. He remained in Dallas for 2023-24, during which he started 12 games during the regular season and none in the playoffs.
With just one year left on the deal, the trade outcome could be different this summer, according to both Stein and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
“Let’s just call it like it is. They’ve been trying to trade Tim Hardaway Jr. since the ink was dry on that deal,” MacMahon said Tuesday on NBA on ESPN’s Hoop Collective/Lowe Post Crossover. “Well, now it’s an expiring contract, and it might actually have some value in the trade market.”
Attempting to move Hardaway means that the Mavericks will likely attempt to re-sign Derrick Jones Jr., who became Dallas’ starting small forward on a one-year, $2.7 veteran minimum deal.
Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison said that bringing Jones back for next season would be a “priority” this summer, per MacMahon.
Jones started all 22 postseason games for the Mavericks. Unlike Hardaway, who at times fell completely out of Dallas’ rotation during the playoffs, Dallas seems to see him as a key part of their plan to run back their current core next season.