Magic acquire Hardaway
Orlando Magic fans booed the night the franchise traded No. 1 pick Chris Webber for No. 3 pick Penny Hardaway, but general manager Pat Williams insisted they couldn’t pass up a great opportunity.
Yes, picking Hardaway at No. 3 instead of keeping the more expensive No. 1 pick provided financial relief the franchise desperately needed.
But Williams insisted fans would eventually be thrilled to have Hardaway in the Orlando lineup.
“We just fell in love with Anfernee after seeing his workout,” Williams said over the jeers. “The kid can do everything. We have found the player to run the club for the next 12 to 15 years. We asked Golden State for the world, and they gave it to us.”
On this date in 1993, the Magic made a blockbuster trade for Hardaway that changed the franchise.
The 6-foot-7 point guard quickly established himself as one of the sport’s best players at his position.
Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal led the Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals, where the team was swept by the defending champion Houston Rockets.
Hardaway earned first-team All-NBA honors during the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons and third-team All-NBA honors during the 1996-97 season.
He was later slowed by injuries and his relationship with the Magic soured, prompting Orlando to trade him in August 1999 after six seasons.
Hardaway has repeatedly said he wished he never left the Magic.
“Hindsight is 20-20,” Hardaway told the Sentinel in 2015. “Orlando was my team, and then in hindsight, you never leave your team for another team. But at the time, I wanted to go play with Jason Kidd, which was a great reason for me to leave Orlando, and I felt like my time had passed with the Magic and it was time for a new chapter.
“But in hindsight, you never leave your team. Orlando was my team.”
Fellow Magic great Nick Anderson, who was on hand for Hardaway’s Magic Hall of Fame ceremony, recalled his father knew the Magic immediately got a steal when they added Hardaway.
“He just made the game look so easy,” Anderson said of Hardaway. “He played it so smooth from that position. He just brought so much to the game.”