3 Reasons the Mavericks shouldn't trade Jaden Hardy

In the summer of 2022, the Dallas Mavericks decided to trade back into the second round of the NBA Draft. They selected a Jaden Hardy out of the G League Ignite. It had some NBA reporters scratching their heads due to Hardy's size and age.

Before the NBA Draft even happened, reporters had the Mavericks drafting a seasoned point guard from college. It threw everyone off to see the Mavericks select Hardy, an extremely young player, instead.

3 Reasons the Mavericks shouldn't trade Jaden Hardy

It even puzzled me as I sat on my couch looking at the name come across the board as the official selection. The first couple of things that went through my mind were pretty simple: Why did the Mavericks make this selection this early in the second round? Why did the Mavericks draft a 20-year-old from a team that's only a couple of years old?

Since I cover the Texas Legends for The Smoking Cuban, I got to see firsthand why the Mavericks ended up drafting him early on in the season. He was sent down to get playing time since he was not getting many minutes with the main club.

The Mavericks invested in a very explosive offensive-minded guard with a ceiling he hasn't come close to reaching yet. Hardy worked his butt off to show Kidd why he deserved playing time with the Mavericks during the first couple of months of the season with the Legends.

After he was called back up to Dallas and showed his true potential to the fanbase, he showed why he should be the next starting point guard for the Mavericks on the court. Let's take a look at the three reasons why the Mavericks shouldn't trade Hardy.