Inside Jaden Hardy's 29-Point Explosion

In wake of the Kyrie Irving trade, how did the Mavericks rookie stake his claim at playing time?

Coming out of high school, runaway Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero was ranked third in his class per RSCI. The top spot belonged to Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City’s No. 2 overall pick in last June’s draft.

The second spot was owned by Jaden Hardy, who chose to play for G League Ignite rather than take the college route of Banchero and Holmgren. For someone who doesn’t keep up with pre-professional basketball, his ranking may come as a shock. But watch his high school highlights and it may start to make sense.

Hardy’s stint with Ignite was up and down, but ultimately, he averaged a hair under 20 points per game. Still, concerns regarding his mediocre efficiency and perceived lack of high-end impact outside of scoring caused his stock to plummet all the way to pick No. 37 in the second round, where Dallas took him.

He hasn’t yet earned consistent playing time, but Hardy made it clear why he should by having the best game of his young career on Monday night, dropping 29 points in just 26 minutes.

All game, the Mavs’ 6-foot-4 guard sliced the defense with his jumper. He effortlessly got into his pull-ups off-the-dribble and converted a mixture of easy and difficult looks. He also shrewdly worked without the ball to earn himself catch-and-shoot attempts. Additionally, he got to the rim for easy buckets by promptly changing pace to beat his defender. Furthermore, the 20-year-old knocked down all nine of his attempts at the charity stripe, a great sign.

Jaden Hardy is a certified bucket. The 20-year-old put up a career-high 29 points on 4/6 twos, 4/6 threes, and 9/9 at the line as the shorthanded Mavs beat the Jazz in Utah. #MFFL pic.twitter.com/h8QcEYEL89

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) February 7, 2023

Performances like this demonstrate how Hardy could still make an impact on a Dallas team welcoming Kyrie Irving. He’s a natural scorer, who can mesh self-creation with off-ball scoring to thrive next to other ball handlers. This is on a Mavericks team which lacks any creation outside of its stars as well, so his value is unique.

However, he’ll likely need to massively improve defensively to see much playing time alongside Doncic and Irving. These two established superstars can get away with subpar defense, but Hardy cannot. His passing is also a work in progress. 

The hardest part for Dallas is finding the developmental reps Hardy needs in the midst of contending for a championship in the wild west. While he may not be the most consistently impactful player immediately, giving him these opportunities to grow could prove to be extremely helpful down the line as his dominant skills give him a really high and unique ceiling of value.

---

Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.