The second grade is advanced for a while, the third grade is 21+4+7, the fourth grade is light falling, the most lamentable superstar

After Michael Jordan completed his first three consecutive championships in 1993, although he returned to the NBA in 1995, the NBA had already discovered a problem at that time, that is, if Jordan retires and wants to continue to maintain the league's ratings, he must find a player who is similar to Jordan and has a elegant style of playing. Therefore, since the summer of 1993, the search for "Jordan's successor" has never stopped. From the early Grant Hill and Jerry Starkhouse to the later Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, etc., although they all failed to reach Jordan's height, they all achieved remarkable success, which is worthy of Jordan's successor.

And the player we are going to talk about today is also one of Jordan's successors. Even Jordan has praised him more than once in the media interview. He is "penny" Anfini Hardaway. Although he entered the NBA at the age of 22, he has performed extremely impressively since he entered the NBA, and his style of play is quite explosive. At that time, he immediately had a large number of fans and fans. However, it is a pity that while the league is growing rapidly, Hardaway immediately dropped after the fourth grade, and there was no recovery again, which is extremely sad. Let’s take a look at how many surprises Hardaway brought to fans back then and see how amazing his performance was!

1. Entered the NBA as Tanhua and quickly became a star player.

Although he got into Memphis University after taking the exam four times because of his poor cultural performance, his personal talent cannot be hidden. In the summer of 1992, Hardaway was selected into the Olympic sparring team with Hill, Chris Webber and others. Although their opponents were the powerful Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and others, the 21-year-old Hardaway did not have any stage fright and defeated this arrogant dream team in training, which shocked the whole world at that time.

Although the big guys of the Dream Team regrouped and did not give these young boys any chance, Hardaway had already become famous after this battle. With the comprehensive data of 22.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.3 blocks in the 92-93 season, he has no challenge in the NCAA. In the summer of this year, Hardaway participated in the NBA draft and was selected by the Warriors with a precious Nanhua lottery. However, not long after he was selected, he was traded with the Magic as a bargaining chip. He exchanged the team with No. 1 pick Weber and became a member of the Magic, and here, Shaquille O'Neal is waiting for him.

After getting O'Neal and Hardaway, the Magic's lineup has been greatly improved, and they are very young, winning both the present and the future. Hardaway did not disappoint the Magic. He played 82 games in his rookie season, and averaged 16 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He could break and shoot offense and shoot, and he also had excellent organizational skills. He was very focused on the defensive end, which put a lot of pressure on his opponents. At that time, the 23-year-old Hardaway did let many fans see Jordan in the past. Not only that, he also performed well in the All-Star Rookie Tournament this year, scoring 22 points in the whole game, winning the MVP of the Rookie Tournament this year, making a good start for his career. In addition, the Magic this season also made it to the playoffs for the first time in history under the leadership of O'Neal and Hardaway. Although he was finally swept out by the Pacers because of his lack of experience. At that time, Hardaway could contribute 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7 assists in three games, which still made the fans very satisfied and imagined the future infinitely.

2. It was selected for two consecutive years, and the speed of progress was surprising.

By the second year of his career, the tacit understanding between Hardaway and O'Neal was quite perfect, and this combination of geniuses, both inside and outside, quickly showed a strong effect. O'Neal could contribute 29.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.4 blocks, and became one of the best centers at the time, while Hardaway contributed 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.7 steals, ultimately helping the Magic to win the first record in the Eastern Conference with 57 wins and 25 losses. Hardaway not only was selected into the All-Star lineup for the first time, but also became the starting guard of the Eastern Conference. After the season, he entered the Best First Team. Looking at the entire NBA history, this is a very rare existence.

And this year, Hardaway's performance in the playoffs was also impressive. Facing Jordan who returned to the game in the second round, although Hardaway averaged only 18.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game, his overall performance was not bad. In the end, he helped the team defeat the Bulls. He was the only team in the 1990s that could defeat the Bulls with Jordan. In the finals, facing the "glider" Drexler, he handed in perfect data of 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 8 assists. Although he failed to win the championship, such dazzling performance has already made Hardaway reach the peak of his career.

Then unexpectedly, in the 95-96 season, O'Neal suffered from injuries and eventually missed a full 28 games. In this case, Hardaway played in all 82 games, and averaged 21.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 2 steals per game, helping the Magic to get the best record of 60 wins and 22 losses in team history. To this day, this is still the best record in the history of the Magic, which shows the value behind it.

And in the 28 games that O'Neal missed, Hardaway, who led the team alone, still scored 20 wins and 8 losses, which shows that his ability is indeed good. As a result, Hardaway was selected for the All-First Team for the second consecutive year in a row, and because of his outstanding performance, the Magic began to choose between him and O'Neal. Although he lost to the Bulls in the playoffs and missed the opportunity to win the championship again, in 12 games in the playoffs, he averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6 assists per game, and he has won all the trust of the Magic. In the eyes of the team, his role exceeded that of O'Neal, and he was a completely replica of Jordan. Therefore, this put the Magic's management into a floating state, which eventually led to a big mistake.

3. Continuously suffering from serious injuries, Hardaway had no choice but to slow down in the speed of light.

In the summer of 1996, facing O'Neal whose contract expired, the Magic never gave O'Neal a contract that satisfies O'Neal. They were extremely arrogant and even voted in the local newspaper in Orlando to let the fans decide whether O'Neal will stay or not. Although O'Neal himself wanted to stay here at first, the team's arrogant attitude deeply hurt O'Neal's emotions. In the end, he reached an agreement with the Lakers and the Sharks swam to Los Angeles. The loss of O'Neal in vain made the Magic fall into a passive position, and Hardaway had to assume more offensive and defensive responsibilities.

Overall, Hardaway did a good job in the 1996-97 season, and averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, helping the team to achieve a record of 45 wins and 37 losses and entering the playoffs stage. But this year, Hardaway's knee has been overwhelmed and has been injured continuously, causing Hardaway to miss 23 games. In the playoffs, Hardaway also achieved its final peak, averaging 31 points, 6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, but unfortunately the team failed to advance, and Hardaway's career began to take a sharp turn. In the 97-98 season, Hardaway, who had just finished his fourth-grade career, felt deeply uncomfortable in his left knee and finally underwent knee repair surgery for the second time. Although he returned in the middle of the season, his overall condition declined significantly. As a result, after persisting in 19 games, he bid farewell to this season. After that, knee injuries kept plaguing Hardaway. He was troubled by injuries and not only could he not recover his condition, but also continued to decline. By the 98-99 season, his data had dropped to 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals, and his efficiency was even incomparable to the rookie season.

The result was that after the end of the season, Hardaway received a contract renewal of $86.68 million for seven years, but was still abandoned by the team and sent to the Suns. Hardaway, who was only 27 years old at the time, also began his wandering career. The knee injury failed to recover from the beginning and end, and other aspects of the body began to have problems. A top genius who could have entered the historical list was dragged down by injuries. Thinking about it now, if the Magic were not so arrogant in the summer of 1996 and could leave O'Neal, perhaps in the parallel world, the two had become one of the greatest combinations in NBA history, and the championship was no problem, but unfortunately these became fantasies.