Watching Jaden Hardy play basketball is fun and fun is the whole point

Everyone has that one charismatic friend who is the life of the party. You can bring this friend into any dull situation and they will instantly shift the mood of the entire place single-handedly and make sure everyone has fun. The Mavericks missed the playoffs last year which is definitely not fun, but there was one man (he’s 20, so an “adult”? I don’t know) who provided all of us with some fun. Jaden Hardy was incredible to watch in a not-so-fun season.

There aren’t many examples of newer things being better than the original. You can argue that Rush Hour 2 and Bad Boys 2 are better than the originals, sure. You might even say the PlayStation 2 was better than the original PlayStation, okay. But the list becomes really slim after that. I’m putting my reputation on the line and making a very bold prediction: Season two of Jaden Hardy will be more fun than Season one.

You look at the numbers and say 8.8 points per game in his rookie year, how can that be fun? Seeing a 20-year-old with that much confidence from the second he stepped on the court was so refreshing to watch. Did he get his shot blocked many times trying to attack a bigger and stronger opponent at the rim? Yes. Did he also take many questionable heat-check shots in a moment where he probably should have slowed the pace of the offense down? Also yes. But he was never deterred by getting blocked or missing a shot and the confidence meter never seemed to falter. This is fun.

Prior to Luka Doncic, the last time I witnessed a rookie this confident on the Mavs was a fellow by the name of Josh Howard who was drafted in 2003. For those of you doing the math at home, 2023 is 20 years ago, which is the age of Jaden Hardy.

Talking about age is not fun when you aren’t 20 years old anymore, but Jaden Hardy is. So let’s focus on that. Time to have fun again and keep having fun. Watch him again in a few days at Las Vegas Summer League!