The Mavericks have at least a “big two” right now in Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. That much is certain. The question is, do they have a “big three”, and if they do, is Tim Hardaway Jr. the third of the three?
THJ is the Mavericks’ third-leading scorer. So if you had to naively create a big three from the Mavs roster without considering the quality of the big three compared to historical big threes, it would include THJ. The only other player you could possibly think about including is…Seth Curry? Or maybe Dwight Powell? You see how ridiculous that is. Only THJ is in contention here.
But THJ only scores 16 PPG. The big three is supposed to be “big”, but that’s not an especially big amount of points. 64 players in the league (including non-Bubb players) are averaging more PPG per game than that. And if we try to pump up THJ’s candidacy by bringing in his other stats…well, he doesn’t really have other stats. He gets three rebounds and two assists per game. Usually, for a player to be part of a big three, they either have to score hella points, or they have to make huge contributions in some area. THJ does neither. There is only one conclusion here.
OFFICIAL DTB CONCLUSION: Tim Hardaway Jr. is NOT part of the Mavs’ big three.
OFFICIAL DTB CONCLUSION #2: The Mavericks do NOT have a big three.