Mavericks have perfect chance to reunite with polarizing scorer on a steep discount

Just days away from being able to select consensus No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks find themselves in a weird saga with their head coach Jason Kidd, as Dallas hasn't shut the door on Kidd being pried away to fill the vacant New York Knicks head coach job yet.

Recent developments would indicate Kidd likely will stay with the Mavericks and is excited at the opportunity to coach Flagg, but whether this instance could give Kidd leverage to ask for a contract extension from the Mavericks is certainly up in the air, and the whole situation is leaving Mavericks fans uncomfortable given the lack of closure from Dallas' side.

While the Kidd situation is sidetracking Mavericks fans for the time being, the team's next priority will be acquiring guard help this offseason once this situation is resolved. Dallas could opt to trade for a high-level guard, or they could go the free agency route by trying to hit on one or two low-risk signings, and perhaps former sharpshooter Tim Hardaway Jr. would be a candidate to come back to Dallas if the Mavericks chose the second of those two paths.

Mavericks could bring back Hardaway Jr. for much cheaper than before

In 77 started games last season, Hardaway Jr. averaged 11 points and 2.4 rebounds per game with shooting splits of 40.6/36.8/85.5. Hardaway Jr.'s role for the Detroit Pistons last season wasn't pedestrian from the one he played in Dallas for most of his seasons with the team, barring the 2023-24 season, where his role was gradually minimized in the playoffs.

Hardaway Jr. is still a capable three-level scorer when he gets it going, but Mavericks fans know all too well that his shot selection can be questionable at times, and he's not the gold standard of efficiency, as he's a particularly streaky shooter. Hardaway Jr. also proved to be lackluster on the defensive end at times during his Mavericks tenure, and while he's not a giant negative on that end, it certainly isn't one of his strengths as a player and has haunted him in postseason action before.

Many analysts are projecting Hardaway Jr. to receive Taxpayer MLE money this offseason (a deal that would average around $5.7 million annually), and the Mavericks could open up this exception this offseason, depending on how much they elect to re-sign Kyrie Irving for, assuming he comes back. This would be a fair amount of money for Hardaway Jr. in a second stint in Dallas compared to his first go-around, where he was on a four-year $75 million deal for most of his tenure with the Mavericks.

Hardaway Jr. may have played and started a hefty amount of games for a Pistons team that was on the come-up last season, but given he's 32 years old and is somewhat of a one dimensional player as a microwave scorer and glue guy, the Mavericks would be foolish to try and overbid for Hardaway Jr. and it's doubtful they will considering they traded him once already.

If Dallas brought in another guard on a minimum signing and re-signed Dante Exum, though, there could be a pathway to Hardaway Jr. being one of the team's reserve guards, and he'd probably be the ninth or tenth man in the rotation that plays more when his shot is going down. Hardaway Jr. would undoubtedly give this Mavericks team some much-needed offensive pop from a shot creation perspective, but his best days are probably behind him, and he'd only be a free agent candidate again for the Mavericks if everything else aligns as far as the roster construction of the team is concerned.

Hardaway Jr. seems to be the least prioritized Pistons free agent guard amongst himself, Malik Beasley, and Dennis Schroder, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him shift teams this offseason, but it must be admitted that a Dallas reunion seems unlikely given how his tenure ended here. There are far better options Dallas can look to in the trade market to fill their stop-gap guard void than Hardaway Jr., but he wouldn't be terrible for the Taxpayer MLE if Dallas could bring in other guards and nail Irving at a flexible amount of money on his prospective new deal.