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He may be on a high right now, having signed a lucrative contract to bring his talents once again to the New York Knicks, but Tim Hardaway Jr. had to go through a lot first in order to get to where he is now. What not a lot of fans know is that he struggled to get his professional career on the right track just a couple of years ago, and almost was not able to make a comeback to the NBA after being relegated to the D-League.
The 25-year-old Michigan product recently shared his experiences, via Steve Serby of the New York Post, where he revealed how his emotional state then and how his parents reacted to his struggles. He then added how he feels now that he has overcome it, and enjoying success, with his new four-year, $71 million contract.
“Emotionally it was a wreck. I played terrible.”
“My mom was crying, my dad was letting her know that “everything’ll be fine, everything’ll be OK, don’t worry about it.” And I told ’em, “I got this. I’m gonna get myself out of this one. I don’t want nobody’s help. If I ask for advice, I’ll call for your advice,” but I wanted to get myself out of that funk, and I’m happy I did.”
Hardaway admitted that it was the rock-bottom of his career that time. He questioned his capabilities and even blamed others for his troubles, until his agent talked to him and made him work hard in order to bounce back quickly.
“Yeah, that was rock bottom. That was under the ground. That was in the core of the earth. That’s how deep it was. You know, you have all that confidence going into Atlanta thinking you’re gonna play, then they tell you you’re not playing the first 25 games … and you were like, “Why did you guys bring me here?” And you start questioning it. And then the human nature is to blame others. But I blame myself for this one. My agent called, saying, “Suck your teeth in, don’t give no lip, do whatever you gotta do to get back on the floor,” and that’s what I tried to do.”
Now reunited with the team that drafted him back in 2013, Hardaway will have a chance to play a bigger role than what he had with the Atlanta Hawks. He can also learn a lot from Carmelo Anthony and rising star Kristaps Porzingis, who are expected to be the leaders of the Knicks. That said, his outside shooting and ability to also drive to the basket will be a huge asset to the team as it will give them another reliable scorer, that could lessen the scoring load on the two aforementioned players. His move to the team could be his opportunity as well to prove that he deserves his huge contract and that he can be a star in the league in the future.
