Horace Grant isn’t hedging when it comes to Penny Hardaway.
The former Orlando Magic forward said Hardaway had the kind of game that could have put him in the top 10 all-time conversation if injuries hadn’t slowed him down. In an interview with Kyle Odegard of Casino.ca, Grant pointed to Hardaway’s complete skill set and even drew a comparison to Magic Johnson.
“Man, listen. That young man, if he didn’t get hurt, you’re talking top-15, maybe top-10 of all-time.
He was Magic Johnson in being athletic. No disrespect to the best point guard ever, but Penny, man.
The IQ, the scoring, the post-up, the defense, the rebounding. You name it.
There wasn’t a flaw in that man’s game.”
That’s a strong statement, but it comes from someone who watched Hardaway up close as Orlando climbed into the Eastern Conference elite in the 1990s. Grant joined the Magic ahead of the 1994-95 season after winning three titles with the Chicago Bulls, and he saw firsthand how quickly Hardaway became one of the league’s most dangerous young guards.
Orlando landed Hardaway with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft in a draft-night trade with the Golden State Warriors. He didn’t take long to justify the hype. Playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Hardaway helped turn the Magic into a real contender, and by his second season the team was in the 1995 NBA Finals before losing to the Houston Rockets.
Hardaway’s résumé in Orlando backed up the star treatment. He made four straight All-Star teams from 1995 through 1998 and earned three All-NBA selections while with the Magic. At his peak, his size, scoring and playmaking made him one of the league’s premier guards.
Grant made it clear he believes the public still underrates what Hardaway was becoming before the injuries took over.
“I was so blessed to have played with him when he was young. Man, people just don’t know. They need to Google No. 1 in Orlando and they will see the great highlights of Penny Hardaway.”
Hardaway’s early run was electric, but knee issues began to chip away at that momentum later in his Orlando years. After playing all 82 games in each of his first two seasons, his availability dropped as the injuries piled up. He was eventually dealt out of Orlando in 1999, going to the Phoenix Suns in a sign-and-trade.
He went on to play 14 NBA seasons with the Magic, Suns, New York Knicks and Miami Heat before retiring. The injuries kept him from sustaining the level that once made him a superstar, but his place in Orlando lore is still secure.
Grant also touched on the current Magic and sounded optimistic about where they’re headed. He said a group led by Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane has the pieces to become one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams if it stays healthy and builds better trust on the floor.
Still, the biggest takeaway from Grant’s comments was about the past. In his view, a healthy Penny Hardaway had the talent to stand with the NBA’s all-time greats.
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