Free agent guard Tim Hardaway Jr. is headed to the Miami Heat on a one-year, $6.5 million deal, but he will have to leave one piece of family history behind: his father’s retired No. 10.
Tim Hardaway Sr., a Heat Hall of Famer, made clear this week that he has no plans to let the number come out of the rafters for his son, even as Mr. Hardaway Jr. joins his hometown team for the first time after stops with the New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets.
“My legacy is my legacy, and he’s doing it his way. Even though he likes to wear 10, he loves to wear 10, but that is not coming down from the rafters,” Hardaway Sr. said on Miami radio this week.
Hardaway Sr. spent five seasons with the Heat, from 1996 to 2001, earning two All-Star selections and All-NBA first-team honors in 1997, followed by second-team recognition in 1998 and 1999. No player has worn No. 10 for Miami since he departed for the Dallas Mavericks in 2001, and the Heat formally retired the number in October 2009.
The younger Hardaway has run into number conflicts before. The No. 10 is also retired by the Knicks, in honor of Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and by the Pistons, for Dennis Rodman. He is expected to wear No. 11 with Miami, a number he also wore during part of his tenure in Dallas.
Hardaway Sr. was unequivocal that his stance won’t soften.
“That is tough to do,” he said, “and when it’s up there, you want it to stay up there and you don’t want nobody to touch it. I love him. I love him to death. I’m happy for him. … Now he’s going to his hometown team. I never done that, and so I’m happy that he’s doing it. But no, he can’t wear No. 10.”
The elder Hardaway has said he expects to feel the moment more once he’s watching from the stands in a Heat jersey — his son’s, not his own number.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the agreement Tuesday.
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