The 2018 dunk where Giannis Antetokounmpo jumped over Tim Hardaway Jr. at Madison Square Garden is one of those clips that just won’t die. It lives on YouTube. It pops up on Twitter every few months. And apparently, even now that they’re teammates on the Miami Heat, people still want to talk about it.
Hardaway is done playing along. When asked recently about his favorite memory of the two-time MVP, he cut straight to the point.
“The best memory, everybody knows it. When he jumped over me and dunked the hell out of the basketball. That’s the only memory I need to tell and get that s*** out of the way. You guys can stop talking about it now. I said it,” Hardaway told reporters.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t deflect. He just put the whole thing to rest the only way he could — by saying the quiet part out loud and begging everyone to move on.
That 2018 Dunk Still Lives Rent-Free in NBA Fans’ Heads
The play itself was brutal. Khris Middleton stole the ball, pushed it ahead, and lobbed it to Antetokounmpo, who was already at full speed near the foul line. Hardaway was the only Knicks player between Giannis and the rim. The result was a poster so vicious that even the Knicks bench looked traumatized. Hardaway’s reaction afterward — that thousand-yard stare — became a meme almost instantly.
Seven years later, Hardaway is on his fourth team in four seasons. He signed a one-year, $6 million deal with Miami this offseason. He’s coming off a legitimately good year in Denver, where he averaged 13.5 points and shot over 40% from three across 80 games, finishing runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year.
He also finally got to play a childhood dream. Hardaway said growing up he wanted to follow his father Tim Hardaway Sr.’s path and wear a Heat uniform. Now he’s there, sharing a locker room with the guy who turned him into a viral punchline.
Nobody has asked whether his dad ever got dunked on like that. Probably because they already know the answer.
Hardaway can laugh about it now — or at least try to move past it. But that clip isn’t going anywhere. It’s one of the most replayed moments of Giannis’s career. And every time someone watches it, somewhere, Tim Hardaway Jr. feels a phantom breeze go right past his ear.
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