Tim Hardaway Jr. has been a career journeyman and should be joining another new team this offseason after a disappointing year with the Pistons. Hardaway had a decent year shooting as he shot 53% effectively from the field and 37% from three. The issue with Tim Hardaway came in the postseason as he completely dropped when the Pistons needed him most.
THJ shot just 45% effectively from the field and just 31% from three. His assist numbers dropped alongside his shooting efficiency. He recorded just two steals across six games and didn't add much defensively overall. This has been a consistent trend for Hardaway, as last season he dropped massively in the playoffs for the Mavericks. Hardaway dropped from 52% EFG to 42% in the playoffs, hitting just 28% of his threes for the Mavs across 162 minutes of playing time.
Hardaway absolutely had his regular-season moments with this Pistons team, but at his current price tag of $16 million, it makes no sense for him to be a priority for the Pistons, given what Malik Beasley and Dennis Schroder showed in the playoffs.
Additionally, this is an attractive free agent class with tons of star names and quality role players like Naz Reid and Santi Aldama. Running it back with Tim Hardaway Jr. would be lazy management when there are many better shooters and defenders available.
Trajan Langdon must prioritize adding more talent alongside Cade Cunningham this offseason. Tim Hardaway Jr. has demonstrated he is not a winning basketball player for 11 years now. The Pistons must move on from Hardaway in the offseason and add younger talent alongside Cade.