NBA Great Felt Slighted After Being Left Off Second Top 50 List

Shandel Richardson | Apr 12, 2025

Mar 2, 1996; Orlando, FL; USA; FILE PHOTO; Orlando Magic guard Penny Hardaway (1) in action against Portland Trail Blazers forward Harvey Grant (44) at the Orlando Arena. Mandatory Credit: RVR Photos-Imagn Images / RVR Photos-Imagn Images

Penny Hardaway is among the NBA's forgotten superstars.

He played like an All-Star and was one of the best in the league for four seasons before being slowed by knee injuries. While Hardaway is at peace nowadays as the coach for the Memphis Tigers, he thinks his career is often overlooked.

"Absolutely. I think some guys give credit, but not the majority," Hardaway once said in an interview with HoopsHype. "My first seven or eight years in the NBA can rival anyone who went into the Hall of Fame – the numbers, the style of play and the way I impacted the game, and I don’t know if I get enough credit for that."

Hardaway was part of a Top 10 duo when he teamed with Shaquille O'Neal for the Orlando Magic in the early 1990s. The Magic lost to the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. They are also the last team to defeat the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in a playoff series.

The Magic were an expected annual contender in the Eastern Conference until O'Neal joined the Los Angeles Lakers and Hardaway dealt with a series of injuries. Still, Hardaway, a four-time All-Star who made First-Team All-NBA twice, feels he deserved a spot on the second edition of the Top 50 NBA players that was released in 2021.

" I was watching a show and they were talking about the Top 50 and they were all fantastic players," Hardaway said. "But I saw a couple of guys were saying that I wasn’t in the next 50 and I beg to differ with that. I’m sorry but when I was healthy, I’m definitely part of the next 50 – without a doubt." 

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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