Dallas Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy showed during the Summer League the reason why he is largely considered one of the biggest steals of the 2022 NBA Draft. Still, it shouldn't be forgotten that he is a rookie who has a lot of learning to do.
The second-round pick had a rather hilarious brain-fart moment on Saturday when he forgot to inbound the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers. It caused a turnover of course, though it couldn't come at the worst possible time with the Mavs trailing by a huge margin at that point.
If there was a Summer League version of Shaqtin' a Fool, Jaden Hardy would make the list after dribbling the ball onto the floor instead of inbounding the ball 😂pic.twitter.com/HAlENKHkfJ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 17, 2022
If Luka Doncic was watching the game, he'd probably be perplexed about it. Besides, there was even no defender pressuring Jaden Hardy to commit a turnover. Certainly, it's a Shaqtin'-a-Fool worthy play if there was one for the Summer League.




But then again, the Mavs would want Hardy to commit such mistakes in the Summer League instead of regular season games. The 20-year-old figures to be a key part of the Dallas roster in 2022-23 after signing a three-year deal with the team.
His hilarious gaffe aside, Hardy did show the potential to be a solid scorer for the Mavs. He definitely needs work in terms of taking care of the ball, but Mavs fans have to love the flashes of brilliance he has shown early on.
Perhaps playing alongside a generational talent like Doncic should help hardy improve by leaps and bounds. After all, the Slovenian wonderboy can definitely teach the youngster his ways of getting to the basket and dishing the rock.