A flash in the pan! The regret of the first generation of white horse spear!

Anfenny Hardaway, this swinger in the honorary league that year, played 704 games in his career, and had a total of 10,684 points, 3146 rebounds, 3525 assists, 1125 steals and 312 blocks. He was selected for the Best Team One, one of the Best Team Three, and four All-Stars. Although he was dragged down by injuries, his career has been miraculously fought for 14 seasons. Even so, there may be a consensus for those who know Hardaway, those who are lucky enough to witness Hardaway's career, and those who have witnessed Hardaway's peak: More than half of his time in Hardaway's more than half of his career seem to be not the real self.

Anyone who has seen the data of his career should be able to find the difference.

Nicknamed "Penny", Hardaway averaged 20.9 points and 7.2 assists in the second season of his career, and joined forces with O'Neal to lead the Magic to enter the 1995 NBA Finals.

Then in the third season, Hardaway gave star data averaging 21.7 points and 7.1 assists. The Magic also won 60 games that year, but was swept out by the Bulls in the division final. In the fourth year, he still averaged 20.5 points and 5.6 assists per game. After O'Neal moved to the Lakers, he still increased his average score to 31 points in the series against the Heat alone, but he still struggled to lead the team to overcome difficulties.

According to normal inference, Hardaway has proved his ability. As long as the Magic signs more helpers around him, the team will have a chance to reach its peak moment. But unexpectedly, Hardaway's peak career suddenly came to an end.

So, we couldn't help but ask a question: Can this flash-breaking glory support Hardaway to enter the Hall of Fame?

At the end of December 2023, Hardaway was included in the 2024 Hall of Fame candidate list, but he was eventually eliminated from the final list. By Hall of Fame standards, Hardaway has been discussed in Hall of Fame Candidates for more than a decade, but he has been truly on the list of candidates.

To some extent, this also shows that he has little hope of being officially selected. But looking back at Hardaway's career trajectory, perhaps no one has ever thought about a question seriously: How far is Hardaway from touching the standards of a great player?

As Tanhualang in 1993, Hardaway's talent is naturally unquestionable. His highest achievement in his career was only two best teams, but these two highest honors were the achievements he achieved in his second and third seasons of his career. He was selected into the best team before legendary celebrities such as O'Neal, Gary Payton, Barkley, Stockton, and Richmond. All of the above players were in the Hall of Fame.

, and Richmond has never even been selected into the NBA All-Star team in his career, with a total score of more than 20,000 in his career, while Hardaway's total score is only more than half of his.

Looking back at Hardaway's career trajectory, there was a slight collision with the Pistons players in the 1996 playoffs, and this seemingly unserious accident directly led to the knee crisis that emerged later. He successfully finished the playoffs and even participated in the US men's basketball team to win the 1996 Olympic gold medal. But then his knee problems worsened. After the operation, Hardaway never scored 20 points per game, and he never had more than 7 assists per game. He never played 80 games in any season, and he no longer had the opportunity to participate in the All-Star. He has only participated in 23 playoff games for the rest of his career.

Even though the injury made him almost unrecognizable as a player, fans should still clearly see what he looked like in the past.

Hardaway averaged 20 points and 5.9 assists per game in college, and participated in the NCAA Championship twice, one of which went to the quarterfinals. After retiring, he also returned to his alma mater to serve as the team coach.

In February 1993, when the last season of his college years was about to end, there was another special story: In the game, Hardaway's teammate Billy Smith stood on the free throw line, while Hardaway stood between two opponents on the right. His teammate's free throw hit the rebound and bounced to the left. Hardaway rushed over and racked the ball out of the opponent who was trying to grab the rebound; then the basketball rolled to the free throw line. After a scramble, Hardaway unexpectedly hugged the basketball on his leg, with his legs directly in front of him and pointing to the basket on the other end of the court.

In an instant, Hardaway picked up the basketball with his right hand, and the ball flew over his left shoulder toward the unguarded Smith, who then successfully scored a layup.

During this fast break, there was no sign of Hardaway trying to find his teammate's position while grabbing rebounds and passing the ball, but for a player like Hardaway, he knew Smith's position under that chaos.

And in a review nearing the end of the season, Hardaway told reporters that this was the most memorable offense in his college career.

It was this attack that made many fans who watched him up close for the first time doubt whether his performance was in every game; but for Hardaway, this was almost a common thing. Even in the NBA, this is still the case until he fell in front of injuries.

From the historical standards, many excellent players have not been able to reach the end. They do not seem to have enough career length to accumulate honor data. For such players, sometimes it is difficult to give them a comprehensive evaluation of their sufficient history, and whether they can be inducted into the Hall of Fame, such standards also seem to be difficult to measure their short and brilliant careers..

is just for fans, as a player, the glory that Hardaway brings to fans should be worthy of retaining a place for him in the Hall of Fame.