Penny Hardaway‘s story is one of the biggest “What Ifs” in NBA history. He enjoyed his best years at the Orlando Magic alongside Shaquille O’Neal from 1993 to 1996 before an ankle injury during the 1997-98 season shackled his potential for the rest of his career. But was he better than Michael Jordan at any point of his career?
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A couple of days ago, an Insta user Joe Lawton uploaded a Hardaway highlights clip and wanted to know people’s opinion on the contentious claim that the Magic star was a better player than Michael Jordan for two years.
Lawton wrote in the caption of the post, ”Some one recently said that [Penny Hardaway] was better [than Michael Jordan] for 2 years how do y’all fell about that …vote below comment.”
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Shaq shared the post on his Instagram stories without diving into the argument whether his former teammate was indeed better than MJ in his prime.
However, the highlights pretty much suggest that. In the video of the post, Hardaway can be seen getting the better of Jordan on many occasions. The clip recorded many of the savvy moves the Magic star used to pull on the court at the time.
The way in which Hardaway was seen getting past Jordan and other Bulls players can seriously make a case that the former Magic star was at least on the same level as ‘His Airness’ at some point in his career.
Penny Hardaway better than MJ?! pic.twitter.com/Bkez2eP99j
— What are (W)NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) October 2, 2024
It was former LA Lakers Wing Trevor Ariza who had popularized this hot take during a sit-down with Iman Shumpert. He had said, “Penny, like growing up, he was the standard… For two years, Penny Hardaway was better than Michael Jordan.”
The only two years where Hardaway could have been “better” than Jordan was from 1993 to 1995. But that wasn’t the case.
After the 1992-93 season, Jordan announced his first retirement following a three-peat with the Bulls. Hardaway was picked #3 in the 1993 Draft and during his rookie season, Jordan wasn’t even in the league.
Hardaway had a stellar rookie season, putting up 16 points, 6.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and an impressive 2.3 steals per game. However, during the 1992-93 season, Jordan had put up a league-high 32.6 points per game and 2.8 steals per game.
Meanwhile, during the 1993 playoffs, he tallied an impressive 35.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. Then the Bulls legend returned at the tail-end of Hardaway’s sophomore year.
He put up 26.1 points per game compared to Penny’s 21.7 PPG(career-high) during the 1994-95 season. Hardaway did notch 2 steals per game compared to Jordan’s 1.8 SPG and had a better assists number (7 APG compared to Jordan’s 5.3 APG).
Hardaway’s Magic even defeated Jordan’s Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. But Jordan had superior numbers to the Magic guard despite coming off of a long hiatus.
Apart from that, when Jordan retired for the second time in 1998 and returned after three years, he was still a more impactful player than Hardaway was.
