The NBA Finals are officially over now that the Oklahoma City Thunder have been crowned the 2025 champions. The league can officially turn its attention to an offseason that'll quickly pick up now that Wednesday's NBA draft and the July free agency period are right around the corner.
In other words, the Motor City is about to see plenty of player movement in the coming weeks. The NBA Finals ending means that several Pistons are entering their final days in Detroit, which includes a veteran sharpshooter who's likely as good as gone this summer.
Pistons' Tim Hardaway Jr. as Good as Gone After NBA Finals
A handful of veteran Pistons could leave town next month, including Tim Hardaway Jr. The 33-year-old marksman is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 6, and it's far from guaranteed that Detroit will bring him back — especially when fellow guards Dennis Schroder and Malik Beasley are also scheduled to become UFAs.
Hardaway joined the Pistons last summer after the Dallas Mavericks traded him and three second-round picks in exchange for Quentin Grimes. The former Michigan Wolverine had established himself as one of the NBA's best bench shooters in recent years, and the hope was that he could find similar success in a starting role with the Pistons.
Unfortunately, the 2024-25 season saw Hardaway average his lowest point total (11.0) in a decade, all while shooting 40.6% from the floor and 36.8% from deep on 77 starts. He continued to leave fans disappointed in the playoffs, as he only averaged 12.0 PPG with a 33.8 FG% and 30.8 3P% in the first-round series loss to the New York Knicks.
That includes going 5-of-21 (23.8%) from the floor and 2-of-13 (15.4%) from the three-point line in the last two games alone.
The Pistons want to take that next step toward becoming championship contenders, and Hardaway just isn't the player to help them get there at this stage of his career. His career is on a downward trajectory at the moment, and there's a good chance his performance will keep declining rather than improving, whether he stays in Detroit or moves elsewhere.
Hardaway is better suited as a backup at this point in his career, and expecting more than that from him would be foolish. If he isn't willing to sign for the veteran minimum as a backup guard, there is no reason to entertain a re-signing.
Unless Beasley and Schroder both leave Detroit, the likelihood of Hardaway being brought back is slim. Pistons fans have less than two weeks to say goodbye to the pending UFA because chances are he'll be in another team's uniform come October.