The Dallas Mavericks are rolling into the 2024-25 NBA season with some momentum following them. Sure, the offseason addition of Klay Thompson will do that for a club, but Dallas played in the NBA Finals a season ago.

As any player or team will attest to, making an appearance in the NBA Finals is incredibly difficult. Along the way, changes and sacrifices have to be made. For the Mavericks, one of those changes was a dwindling role for Tim Hardaway Jr.

The former Mavericks guard spent time in each of the last six seasons with the organization. Still, when the team — led by superstar Luka Doncic — finally made a run to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011, the 32-year-old guard had to take a bit of a backseat.

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Hardaway’s father, Tim Hardaway Sr., struggled to watch his son have his role shrink as the playoffs went on.

“He went from someone they paid that was playing a lot then all of a sudden just wasn’t playing no more,” Hardaway Sr. said. “As a pops, it’s tough knowing that your son’s supposed to be out there.”

Hardaway played an average of 26.8 minutes per game in the regular season. He was a regular in the lineup and was playing a hefty role. By the time the postseason hit, he was playing under 13 minutes per contest and only played in 14 of the 22 games.

It’s normal for teams to shorten the rotation and play key guys only when the playoffs hit — especially a team that makes an NBA Finals appearance. Unfortunately for the veteran guard, he was the one impacted by the changes.

Now, Hardaway is a member of the Detroit Pistons as a veteran on a young team. His floor spacing and locker room presence could help uplift the team through their rebuild.

READ MORE: Mark Cuban Thought Kyrie Irving Was ‘Team Killer’ Before Trade

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