MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway came down a hallway at Methodist University Hospital – Styrofoam box of food in one hand, keys to the gym in the other – still looking like a Nike pitchman because of his cap, sweatshirt and sneakers. Nine years removed from his last NBA game, Hardaway is now coach of Memphis East High School, finding fulfillment in leading one of the nation’s top-ranked teams and helping talented kids from his neighborhood reach the dreams for which he once aspired.

Stripped down from the glam of his heyday, Hardaway no longer needs a Chris Rock-voiced little puppet to serve as his hype man. Hardaway was once a pop-culture phenomenon, part of a must-see TV pairing with Shaquille O’Neal that was billed as the second coming of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But their three-year run with the Orlando Magic will always sit atop the list of greatest NBA dynasties that never came to fruition, undone by ego and impatience.

Right behind would be the Oklahoma City Thunder of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Both organizations made one NBA Finals trip, where they lost to a former No. 1 pick who won the first of back-to-back titles, never returned and had the run abruptly end in similar fashion – with the first player to get drafted and reach stardom bolting for California in free agency and leaving behind a stunned partner who was forced to carry the franchise.

“When KD came up as a free agent, I was like, if he left, it would be like, for Russ, it would be like me and Shaq,” Hardaway, 45, recently told The Vertical. “That’s what happened. Russ has to carry the load. He has a nice supporting cast still left, because they had a nice team. So he’s not strictly by himself, but he has to do a lot. He has to do a ton.”

Long before their careers were linked by similar circumstances, Hardaway viewed Westbrook as his favorite NBA player, drawn to Westbrook’s unrelenting motor and menacing scowl. “No doubt,” Hardaway told The Vertical. “Russ is a unique player, because he gives it his all every possession, to me. Of course, I’m not on the inside, but from what I see, the energy that he plays with, the passion that he plays with, the aggression, I love it.”

Westbrook’s “go” button on the court is always being mashed and that has made it easy for him to accept the increased responsibilities with mind-blowing production – the kind that hasn’t been seen in 55 years, when Oscar Robertson became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season. With 24 triple-doubles through his first 48 games, Westbrook also is on pace to match Robertson for the most triple-doubles in a single season with 41.

Hardaway passes to Shaquille O'Neal during the 1995 NBA Finals. (Getty Images) More

Life without Durant has meant fewer wins but greater appreciation for Westbrook, who stands as one of the leading candidates for league MVP and is even more beloved – at home and on the road – while keeping Oklahoma City in playoff contention. Hardaway’s adjustment without O’Neal in 1996-97 was much more difficult, especially because then-coach Brian Hill was ousted through a player coup and for the first time in his career Hardaway battled injuries, which would eventually shorten his effective years. Though he made third-team All-NBA and led the Magic into the postseason – where he had consecutive 40-point games in a first-round loss to Miami – Hardaway wasn’t quite the same without O’Neal.

“The thing was, I never wanted the team to be mine. I wanted to be a winner,” Hardaway told The Vertical. “And I wanted the team to stay intact. And whatever I needed to do to win a ring, a game, whatever it had to take, I was going to do. When Shaq left, that definitely put the onus on me. I could turn it up, if I really wanted to. I had to dial my game up to make it work. I knew my talent was good enough, but it went from having a guy on your team that was going to be double-teamed, to you being double- and triple-teamed and having to pass to other guys. It made my job harder, but not the workload.

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