The New York Knicks‘ acquisition of Tim Hardaway Jr. has been considered by a lot of people as a big joke. And hearing Knicks president Steve Mills detail how the team wooed Hardaway into coming back to the Big Apple might just make it a bigger joke for them. Speaking to Al Iannazzone of News Day, Mills said that the Knicks took on a take-no-prisoner approach in pursuing the second-generation pro in free agency.
Mills said he needed to be “aggressive” to bring back Hardaway and make sure the Atlanta Hawks didn’t match the contract for the restricted free agent.
The Knicks were so adamant in getting Hardaway that they offered the shooting guard a shockingly bigger amount than what the Hawks were preparing to put on Hardaway's table.
Reportedly, Atlanta was preparing for Hardaway to get around $45 million over four years. The Knicks blew that number out of the water.
That's significantly fewer than the Knicks' four-year, $71 million deal they dangled right in front of a likely salivating Hardaway, who immediately bit the offer.
The Knicks' unquenchable desire to get Hardaway back after trading him to Atlanta in 2015 was largely fueled by the outstanding performance they saw from the Michigan product last season in which he averaged a career-best 14.5 points per game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field. In two seasons for the Knicks, Hardaway managed to average 10.8 points on 40.3 percent shooting across 151 games — numbers he is eyeing to break in his return to Manhattan.
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