“Injuries”, yes, they’re no surprise. In a high-octane league like the NBA, nothing’s really guaranteed. You could play ten-plus seasons and still be chasing your first MVP, first ring, or even a shot at Olympic gold. But one thing that is inevitable is injuries. Sometimes, they’re just a bump in the road, and other times? Man, they really hit hard. Season-ending or, worse, career-ending. Still, real legends don’t fold that easily. And Penny Hardaway is one of those players who, despite struggling with injuries a huge part of his career, always found the will and a way to come back. Given everything he went through, he knew a thing or two about pain and setbacks.

Hardaway, now the head coach at the University of Memphis, has been pretty vocal about his stance on load management lately, and he’s not been sugarcoating anything. He’s all for rest, sure. But he still believes players got to show up to practice if they want real chemistry and team flow. No shortcuts. And now, Penny just took things up a notch. He threw his support behind Lonzo Ball, who’s has had a fair amount of injuries, while low-key putting Joel Embiid in the hot seat. Although he didn’t name Embiid directly, that message was loud and clear. Penny’s not here for the “rest over reps” culture, and he’s letting the league know.

“Injuries made people lose confidence in me, but I never lost confidence in myself.” That was Penny Hardaway’s mindset back in the day. He was hooping through pain, pushing past doubt, and stepping back on the court even when his knee wasn’t right. After that 1996 playoff run against the Pistons, he kept pushing and pushing. But on The Pivot Podcast, he finally admitted what a lot of fans didn’t know, he called it his biggest mistake. “I kept coming back bro, and I just kept having the meniscus tear…And it was stupid.”

That’s madness, a trademark of legends. When you start ignoring your body because the scoreboard means more? That’s a different breed. As Penny said himself, “Maybe because I never really listened to my body, I was more listening to my heart of loving the game.”

And now, Penny is not shy about showing love to players who handle injuries the right way. He gave props to Lonzo Ball for putting recovery first, calling it what it is: smart, responsible, and necessary. But at the same time, Penny isn’t holding back when it comes to players who sit out just ’cause they’re just tired. And yeah, while he didn’t name-drop, fans are connecting the dots. Joel Embiid, who’s missed more than half his regular-season games in his career, definitely falls into that conversation. Penny made his stance clear as day: “I wasn’t gonna miss a game if I was perfectly healthy because I was tired…I could never do that” 

That’s old-school grit talking. No excuses. If you were good to go, you played. Period. And if it were up to Penny to make the final call? His answer would be simple: “I would take that out.”  He is not here for load management just for the sake of it.

Penny Hardaway and his struggles with injuries that cut his career short

Penny Hardaway hit the NBA like a lightning bolt: 6’6″ of playmaking, scoring, and defense, forming an electrifying duo with Shaquille O’Neal on the Orlando Magic. On track to be one of the league’s brightest stars, people were already comparing him to the best, saying he had everything. Athleticism, vision, and a smooth game. But then, injuries stepped in unannounced.

Knee and ankle issues plagued Penny, derailing his career before he even hit his peak. “I went from being First Team All-NBA to Third Team, then off the map,” he said in One Cent: Penny Hardaway. Those injuries took away his speed, explosion, and what made him dangerous on the court. Sure, there were flashes of brilliance after Shaq left, but his body couldn’t keep up with the pace of the game the same way it used to. 

His quickness, his reflexes were gone, and defenders started to take advantage of this weakness. The Magic, trying to give him a lifeline, traded him to the Phoenix Suns, but the injuries kept coming. Penny’s career, once full of promise, slipped away. The player who was supposed to lead the league never got the chance to fulfill that destiny. Even as he went on to become a philanthropist, and a successful coach, his story remains a reminder of how injuries can steal even the brightest stars.