Tim Hardaway Jr. will be a Knick — again.
The Hawks did not match the Knicks’ four-year, $71 million offer sheet to the restricted-free-agent shooting guard. The Hawks had 48 hours to match the offer with a deadline of 11 p.m. (ET) Saturday. However, they made a final decision and gave notification several hours early.
The departure means the Hawks have lost another major contributor from last season — including three starters from their first-round playoff series loss to the Wizards. Hardaway became a starter late in the season and remained with the unit through the playoffs.
Hardaway spent the past two seasons with the Hawks after he was acquired for a first-round draft pick in 2015. He spent his first two seasons with the Knicks, who drafted him in the first round in 2013.
“Bringing Tim back to his original NBA home is an exciting time for him and this franchise,” Knicks president Steve Mills wrote in a statement released by the team. “As a versatile wing whose game continues to improve, he will fit right into a core of players that make up a roster emphasizing youth, athleticism, accountability and unselfishness.”
The offer sheet would pay Hardaway an average yearly salary of $17.75 million. It was structured to begin at $16.5 million and increase to $19 million in the final year with a player option and a 15 percent trade kicker, a bonus of 15 percent of what is owed on the contact, not including the fourth year.
The decision was expected as new general manager Travis Schlenk has indicated on several occasions his desire to maintain salary-cap flexibility. The feeling around the Hawks in the day following the offer sheet was that the team would not match such a significant offer.
The 25-year-old Hardaway blossomed with the Hawks after the trade. He overcame a wrist injury and no playing time when he arrived. By the end of end of last season and the playoffs he was in the starting lineup. Hardaway averaged 14.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists, had a .357 3-point percentage and became an improved defender last season.
The Hawks have only two starters remaining from the unit that began the first-round playoff series loss in April. Paul Millsap agreed to terms with the Nuggets as an unrestricted free agent. Dwight Howard was traded to the Hornets. Now, Hardaway leaves as a restricted free agent. Only Dennis Schroder and Taurean Prince remain from the starting unit. Kent Bazemore, Mike Muscala (recently agreeing to return), Malcolm Delaney and DeAndre Bembry are the other players still on the roster from the end of the season.
“Atlanta brought me here, and it really felt like I was starting all over as a rookie when I got here,” Hardaway said in April following the playoff series loss. “They made me go through some tough times. They made me mature as a person on and off the court. And made me appreciate the game a whole lot more when I first came in the league. That’s what I’m thankful for.”
Bazemore is scheduled to make $16.9 million next season in the second of a four-year deal he signed last summer. Bazemore and Hardaway play the same position, and it was hard to imagine the Hawks would invest nearly $34 million combined for both players.
The Hawks did not extend Hardaway’s rookie contract by Nov. 1 and set him on the path to be a restricted free agent. Following the season, the Hawks made Hardaway a one-year qualifying offer of $4.6 million to keep him restricted. Hardaway declined to sign the offer and eventually signed the significant offer sheet from the Knicks.
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