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The New York Knicks have gotten off to a surprising start to the 2017-18 NBA season thanks to their bevy of talented, young players. Aside from the dominant play of budding superstar Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks have relied heavily on small forward Tim Hardaway Jr. en route to a competitive 10-9 record.
Hardaway Jr. is quietly enjoying the best season of his career by far. However, he is still relegated to using the criticism that stems from his lucrative four-year, $71 million contract as motivation, according to Peter Walsh of Slam:
“I have to use [criticism] as motivation,” he says. “I take it as those are your fans and they’re coming at you with that. It hurts. But at the same time, you can’t harp on that. You have to go out there and show that you deserve what the Knicks offered. At the end of the day, it’s not my fault. They came to me. I knew that if it was something big, I would have to deliver. I’ve been delivering since last season in Atlanta. I feel like I’m confident and capable of getting what I got money-wise and going out there and playing for the team and playing for the franchise and playing for the city.”
Questionable free agent signings are somewhat of a common occurrence in today's NBA. However, Hardaway Jr. has had a rough time being embraced by the “Big Apple” since his return prior to the 2017-18 NBA season. To be fair, Knicks fans' frustrations with the monster deal is understandable, especially for a player they had previously drafted just a few years prior.
Fortunately, he has done a solid job of doing his best to live up to his contract by averaging 18.6 points 3.4 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. However, it remains to be seen whether or not fans will eventually come to peace with the signing.
