OCTOBER 22: Hardy has officially signed his extension, according to Mavs PR (Twitter link).
OCTOBER 21: Third-year guard Jaden Hardy has agreed to a three-year, $18MM extension with the Mavericks, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. The final year of Hardy’s extension will include a team option, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.
Hardy was a second-round pick in 2022 and the contract he’s signing is considered a veteran extension rather than a rookie scale extension.
He was eligible to sign at any point this season, unlike some other veterans who faced a Monday deadline. However, Hardy and the team chose to get the deal done sooner rather than later.
In related news, the Mavericks won’t be signing Quentin Grimes to a rookie scale extension, The Athletic’s Fred Katz tweets. Grimes will be headed to restricted free agency next summer.
Hardy has proved to be a valuable rotation player in his two NBA seasons. He saw action in 73 regular season games last season, including seven starts, averaging 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 13.5 minutes per contest. He’s established himself as a reliable three-point threat in his two seasons in Dallas (37.9%).
The 6’4” Hardy also played regularly in the postseason, albeit in limited minutes. He averaged 4.2 PPG in 6.8 MPG. He could have an opportunity for more minutes early in the 2024/25 season with Dante Exum sidelined due to wrist surgery.
Low-cost rotation players are extremely valuable to contenders with max contract players on their ledger, so Hardy’s willingness to sign for an average of $6MM per season was naturally an incentive for the Western Conference champions.
The Grimes news comes somewhat as a surprise, considering he was reportedly negotiating a three-year extension with Dallas. According to Marc Stein (Twitter link), despite some initial optimism, the two sides were unable to bridge a gap in their discussions during the final days leading up to Monday’s deadline.
Grimes, a late first-rounder in 2021, spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Knicks, then was dealt to the Pistons at the February trade deadline. Detroit included Grimes in the offseason Tim Hardaway Jr. deal.
IMO Grimes was a great pick up. I still wish he was in NY to replace Donte. How about a trade to bring him back if he’s not appreciated in BIG D!!!!
I’m not the most avid Mavs fan but from what I’ve seen he seems like a very capable creator/scorer in limited minutes so it looks like a great value contract for the Mavs. I’m a little surprised that he took it, cause it’s by NBA standards relatively low, but again it’s still a boatload of money for anyone.