Penny Hardaway Believes He's 'One of the Top Players to Ever Play' in NBA

Former NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway believes he showed enough before injuries derailed his career to receive consideration as one of the greatest players in history.

Hardaway, who is head coach of the University of Memphis men's team, told Ashley Nicole Moss of Sports Illustrated his play at his peak deserves more respect:

Hardaway was the third overall pick in the 1993 draft after a standout college career at Memphis. He earned four All-Star selections and was also named to the All-NBA First Team twice across his first five seasons with the Orlando Magic.

However, twice in a span of four seasons, 1997-98 with the Magic and 2000-01 with the Phoenix Suns, he suffered serious knee injuries that forced him to miss most of those respective campaigns.

While there were still occasional flashes of his previous brilliance, he never returned to the NBA's upper echelon on a consistent basis during the latter stages of his playing career.

Hardaway possessed high-end talent—his best statistical season came in 1995-96 when he averaged 21.7 points, 7.1 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 51.3 percent from the field—but longevity is also a factor when it comes to debating the best players in history.

His resume in that regard isn't quite as strong, and that's probably the main reason he isn't mentioned more frequently when people discuss the top NBA players to ever walk on the floor.

Hardaway noted that while he'd like his playing career to receive a little more attention, his main focus now is proving people wrong as a coach with the Tigers, who opened their 2021-22 season with a win over Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night.