Tim Hardaway Sr. was a great NBA player back in the 1990s and was known for his ability to score through mean crossovers. In 2022, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His son, Tim Hardaway Jr., followed in his footsteps and was drafted as the 24th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Recently, Hardaway Jr. sat down with the crew of the ‘Run Your Race’ podcast to talk about his rocky relationship with his father and how it evolved after he turned fifteen.
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As a player who achieved much acclaim in the league, Hardaway Sr. started off coaching his kid with similar expectations. These expectations resulted in a lot of screaming and yelling at the young child. Hardaway Jr. talked about the relationship on the podcast and said, “It wasn’t a good start I would say, for him and myself relationship-wise.” The 31-year-old further added that the rocky dynamic between the two was tearing their family apart.
Hardaway Jr. attributed his father’s style of parenting to the difference in lifestyles they both had. Hardaway Sr. came from humble beginnings in the South side of Chicago and had to endure a lot of hardship. Whereas Hardaway Jr., being the son of an NBA player, enjoyed a more comfortable upbringing. However, things turned around when the Hall of Fame player decided to take a step back eventually.
The Dallas Mavericks star described the turning point in the father-son relationship and said, “For him to be able to sit back once I got to the age of 15-16. Him starting to realise that I am doing everything that he is trying to tell me to do out there on the floor. He is taking a deep breath, instead of sitting courtside and yelling and screaming at me, he is sitting all the way back and analyzing the game.” He further talked about how his father apologized to him after the game, which took a huge load off his shoulders.
Hardaway Jr.’s story shows that how much stress a child can experience due to the pressure of expectations from parents. Kobe Bryant once famously said that his father telling him he will love him irrespective of the scoreboard allowed him to spread his wings and play freely.
Tim Hardaway Sr. admitted to the difficult relationship with his son
Ten years back, the Hall of Fame player echoed similar sentiments as his son when describing their relationship. In an article by ‘The New York Post‘, Hardaway Sr. talked about how he was too hard on his son. “I wanted him to play like I played,” he said. “I was tearing up the family and I wasn’t having fun.”
Seeing the effect his expectations were having on his family, Hardaway amended his mistakes, “I had to really check my ego at the door. I had to really look at myself in the mirror. And one day, junior year, I apologized to him. I said ‘I’m sorry, I’ve been too hard on you.’ It helped us out as a family.” The realization not only kept his family from breaking apart but also helped his son flourish as a basketball player. Eventually, Hardaway Jr. found his footing in the league and is now a respected player for the Dallas Mavericks.
