Detroit Pistons miss out on Tim Hardaway Jr. as veteran guard signs with Denver Nuggets
On Tuesday, July 1, the Denver Nuggets reportedly agreed to a deal with Tim Hardaway Jr., prying him away from Detroit after a successful bounce-back campaign, according to ESPN's Shams Charanaia.
The specifics of the deal have not been reported, but Charania said "Denver prioritized a shooter in free agency Tuesday – and adds Hardaway to its acquisitions of Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas in the last day."
The Michigan alumnus and son of Hall of Fame guard Tim Hardaway started 77 games last season and anchored the spacing in the first unit, averaging 11 points while shooting 36.8% from 3. Only Malik Beasley (319) made more 3-pointers than Hardaway (168).
Detroit Pistons forward Tim Hardaway Jr. (8) makes a jump shot against New York Knicks during the first half of Game 6 of Eastern Conference playoff first round at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
He arrived to the Pistons via trade last summer, along with three second-round picks, in exchange for Quentin Grimes, and made $16.2 million in the final year of his deal last season.
Trajan Langdon made clear that he wanted the Pistons' free agents to return next season, but so far only Paul Reed has re-signed as Dennis Schröder and now Hardaway have signed elsewhere.
"For us it’s continuing to get better and continuing to have optionality," Langdon said June 24. " As I said, we’ll keep our ear to the ground on ways that we can improve, but improvement for us is internal. If we can keep some of the guys that we have as part of this run, some of the vets, that would be great. We know they’re going to get interest from other teams as well. As we look to keep them, we’ll also have to have backup options as well if they choose to go somewhere else for a deal that we can’t match, or a deal that we can’t get to. We’d like to get those guys back but we’ll be prepared to have to go another direction."
Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons miss out on Tim Hardaway Jr. as veteran guard signs with Denver Nuggets
