As the second round of Thursday’s NBA Draft was proceeding, the Dallas Mavericks noticed something that grabbed their
attention.
They noticed Jaden Hardy was sliding. Unexpectedly. So the Mavs decided to trade their way back into the draft with the chance of securing Hardy.
Mission accomplished.
In the end, the Mavs traded second-round picks in 2024 and ‘28 for the draft rights to Hardy, who was drafted 37th overall by the Sacramento Kings and subsequently shipped to Dallas.
Nico Harrison, the president of basketball operations and general manager of the Mavs, said he has no idea why Hardy slipped. He added that the Mavs had Hardy much higher on their draft board, so when the opportunity to trade for him presented itself, they hopped at the opportunity.
“I can’t really tell you what other teams are thinking or saying,” Harrison said. “I’m glad he did (slip) and we are excited that he did.
“He’s excited to be here, so I’m happy he slipped.”
Harrison describes Hardy as a young phenom with tremendous upside. The 6-4, 198-pound shooting guard played high school basketball in suburban Las Vegas – at Coronado High School in Henderson, NV –and decided to skip college and play last season for the NBA G League Ignite.
In his lone season with the Ignite, Hardy averaged 17.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists. And when he scouted Hardy, Harrison acknowledged there were a few things that undeniably rose to the surface.
“He’s a guy that can go get a bucket,” he said. “He’s strong, he’s athletic, he’s a scorer. I think his upside is (that) he’s played with mature guys and he’s been successful with strong, mature guys.
“I think if you look at a guy doing that in college versus doing that with the G League Ignite, I think it’s closer to what the NBA game is.”
Hardy doesn’t turn 20 years old until July 5. For now, he’s wise beyond his years.
“If you look at his (Ignite) teammates, one of the things is he doesn’t pass the ball (and) he’s a little selfish,” Harrison said. “Those were kind of the knocks on him. But if you look at the way he played, his team always gave him the ball because they trusted him and know he has the work ethic.
“He put the time in the gym. If you look at his teammates — some of them are veterans — he had the ball in his hand because they gave him the ball. If you see the shot clock running down, they gave him the ball. They only do that for people they trust.”
And in Hardy, the Mavs truly trust.
“All of our scouts got to see him play,” Harrison said. “I watched tons of film on him.
“I saw him play in high school. We’re familiar with him.”
But will that familiarity translate to Hardy cracking the Mavs’ rotation and becoming an impact player as a rookie?
“I think you’ve got to give young guys a chance to develop, but definitely,” Harrison said. “We drafted him because we think he’ll be a rotation player, for sure.
“We liked, really, if you look at the way he grew with the Ignite, he started off a little slow. He really came into his own. He’s athletic, he’s long (with a) long wingspan (and) good size. He can get to the basket at will and he’s really, I mean, he’s a scorer.”
As a high school junior, Hardy averaged 30.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists while collecting Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year honors. And even though Hardy’s senior season was disrupted and cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, he still was named to the prestigious Jordan Brand Classic, McDonald’s All-American game and the Nike Hoop Summit.
“(He’s) super talented, he’s still raw, he’s young, so it’s going to take a while,” Harrison said. “He was a second-round draft pick, but he can really score the ball at a high level.
“He’s been a scorer his whole life, but I think when you take a kid that doesn’t go to college and tries the G League Ignite and is playing with older, more mature people and you see him develop as he’s going through that, it just shows you what he can become.”
Hardy was a consensus five-star recruit in high school and was ranked by ESPN as the top guard and No. 2 player in the country in the high 
school class of 2021. He ultimately spurned college offers from Kentucky and UCLA, among others, to jump-start his pro career by joining the Ignite.
Whether Hardy will make the Mavs’ 15-man roster next season or be signed to a two-way contract, Harrison said: “Either way we expect him to be a guy that has a long-term future with us.”
And that possible long-term future started when the Mavs noticed Hardy inexplicably dropping in Thursday’s draft.
“I just knew that we did the work, we knew the guys we liked and if guys we liked like Jaden were available, then we would try to get back in (the draft),” Harrison said. “It happened, so we did as we said we would do.
“We got in and we got the player that we liked. We had him higher than 37. We were really shocked that he kept slipping.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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