Former Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors star Tim Hardaway was selected as a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame class of 2021. New Orleans Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy laid out Hardaway's resume and advocated for his induction into the Hall. Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris hopped on the train and campaigned to get the 5-time All-Star into the exclusive club.
Say it louder please‼️‼️‼️ https://t.co/NL5KISzmXn
— Tobias Harris (@tobias31) March 13, 2021
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced earlier this week 14 finalists for the 2021 class. Fellow Heat legend and 2-time NBA champion Chris Bosh joined Hardaway as a finalist. The list included Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce, 5-time All-Star Chris Webber, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, and long-time NBA head coach Rick Adelman to name a few.
Hardaway certainly has a strong case to finally be inducted into the Hall. His career accomplishments speak for themselves: 5-time All-Star, 5-time All-NBA, and as Van Gundy mentioned, he also finished in the top 8 of MVP voting three times in his career. Having played majority of his career in the 1990's, a decade that included so many NBA legends, that's certainly nothing to scoff at.
Furthermore, Van Gundy even offered the hot take that Hardaway was the best player on both the Heat teams in the 1990's, which featured Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning, and the best player of the Run TMC Golden State Warriors that also featured to Hall of Famers in Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond.
This isn't the first time that Hardaway has been selected as a finalist. However, controversy regarding his previous homophobic remarks may have stained his reputation and affected his case to make the exclusive club. Despite initially admitting he was homophomic, Hardaway has since expressed regret over those remarks and apologized for them. He even became an advocate for gay rights and has done work in the LGBTQ community.
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