MIAMI — “Been waiting a decade,” Tim Hardaway Sr. says, unprompted, ahead of the question even being asked. “This is a damn call I’ve been waiting a decade on. As parents, we are so happy, too.”
Happy that son gets the opportunity to ply his trade not only where his father played, but to do it under the No. 10 jersey of the first Tim Hardaway to play for the Heat.
The agreement of a one-year, $6.5 million contract for Tim Hardaway Jr., at Tuesday night’s start of NBA free agency was about more than the Miami Heat filling out a roster dramatically revamped with last week’s acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It was about bringing a story full circle.
When Pat Riley first arrived in South Florida in 1995, he recognized the need for a complement to prized big-man Heat acquisition Alonzo Mourning. That complement was Tim Hardway Sr. Epic playoff battles against the New York Knicks followed.
Now, amid yet another of his rebuilds, still in his role as Heat president, Riley is putting similar hope into the possibility that the son also rises.
To fully appreciate this moment is to wait until July 6, the start of the NBA’s new cap calendar, which is the earliest Tuesday night’s agreement with Tim Hardaway Jr. can be finalized.
But for now, a proud father is more than glad to do the talking, with words rarely in short supply from the loquacious elder Tim Hardaway.
“Me and Tim talk, and we talked about some other teams,” Hardaway, 59, said of his son’s recent free-agency deliberations. “And everything that he was saying to me, as a father, as an NBA guy, was his heart was with Miami. He wanted to come play for Miami. That’s all he wanted to do, was come play for Miami. He wanted to go home and play for Miami.
“And I understand, you know, guys always wanna go home and play for their home team. If I had a chance to go to the Bulls, I would’ve played for the Bulls.”
Raised in Chicago, the older Hardaway never got that chance. Raised in Miami, that chance is now at hand for his son.
“He wanted to go home to Miami,” Hardaway continued, “and I told him, I said, ‘It sounds like your heart is with Miami, and you need to be happy about your decision. And I think that you already decided that you really wanted to go to Miami.’ ”
There had been other times in recent years when he thought his son could join the Heat, only to experience paternal disappointment that the interest was not reciprocated.
But this time, it was different, with the Denver Nuggets working amid their only salary constraints, limited in their ability to keep a player coming off a career-best .407 season from 3-point range, a player who finished third in voting for NBA 2026 Sixth Man of the Year.
“He’s now done three things that I have never done,” father said of son. “He went to the Final Four and played in the championship round at Michigan. He went to the NBA Finals with Dallas. And now he’s playing for his home team.”
Beneath the jersey of his father.
“It’s a perfect, perfect fit for them,” the older Hardaway said of the Heat. “And then playing with Giannis and Bam (Adebayo), I mean, you saw what the Heat did with their shooters, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson.”
Because even back during his father’s Heat playing days, a quarter center ago, Tim Hardaway Jr., now 34, fancied himself as a shooter on the Heat’s court, which at the time was the old Miami Arena.
“I remember before a game there, him coming into the locker and telling me, ‘Dad, they won’t let me shoot. Stan Van Gundy won’t let me shoot,’ ” father related, with a chuckle, of a time when Van Gundy was an assistant coach to Riley and was working out players pregame.
“I told him he’s got to pass, because the players are coming out there to shoot. I said, ‘Tim, it’s our turn now. You’ve got to pass the ball.’ So he went out and rebounded and passed to the players.”
That’s when father paused, laughed again about the moment all those years ago.
“Even then he was learning the game from this team,” the Hall of Fame guard said.
Now, it’s for real.
“I’m like a proud parent right now,” Hardaway gushed, “like a proud papa. Words, right now, I can’t describe how I feel.”
Then Heat assistant coach Stan Van Gundy at left, talks to Tim Hardaway during a game vs Denver in 1999. (Sun Sentinel file)