Mavs’ Hardaway Mentored Pistons’ Cunningham Before Season-Ending Surgery

Detroit Pistons young star Cade Cunningham had season-ending shin surgery in mid-December. Dallas Mavericks veteran Tim Hardaway Jr.’s advice made Cunningham feel more comfortable going through with his decision.

Dalton Trigg | Jan 17, 2023

Dallas Mavericks veteran shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. has found himself as the subject of numerous trade rumors in recent weeks.

Last season, through 42 games, Hardaway was having an off-year while shooting just 33.6 percent from deep before suffering a foot injury that required season-ending surgery. Through 42 games this season, Hardaway has found his groove from 3-point range again, as he’s shooting 36.1 percent on 7.9 attempts from deep per game.

Although teams’ interest in Hardaway surely stems from his 3-point shooting ability, his ability to be a good locker room presence and mentor to young players might also be high on the list.

Before Detroit Pistons’ promising young star Cade Cunningham decided to have season-ending shin surgery in mid-December, he reached out to several players to get advice on which route he should take. A conversation with Hardaway — who had the same shin surgery during the 2018-19 season — is ultimately what put Cunningham at ease about his decision to go through with the surgery.

“He was actually the guy who made me feel most at ease about it,” said Cunningham of Hardaway in an interview with The Athletic. “He was the last guy I talked to about it. He had the best experience with it. I went to the same doctor as him. It all went perfect. He is kind of the guy who, after I talked to him, I was like, ‘I’m going to do it’ and felt good about it.”

If the Mavs do end up parting ways with Hardaway before the Feb. 9 trade deadline, perhaps the Pistons are a team to keep an eye on given the connection with him and Cunningham. Dallas has been linked to Detroit in multiple trade rumors including Bojan Bogdanovic and Nerlens Noel.

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Published Jan 17, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.