Summary
Hardy was a high profile high school prospect in 2021, and ended up spending his one post-high school season with the G-League Ignite. He didn't have a great season, struggling to score efficiently and posting a 48% true shooting. His stock fell, and he ended up falling to the 2nd round of the 2022 NBA draft.

Hardy's game is built around scoring and shot creation. He has a really tight handle, and has the quickness to create space on jumpers or get to the rim. He has a lot of moves in his bag, and uses nice change of pace to keep defenders off balance. His G-League stats in '22-'23 were much better than his season with the Ignite, as he scored over 31 points per game on a ridiculous 78% true shooting. During his NBA games, he has posted a 54% true shooting, led by his 38% 3-point shooting. Hardy struggles to finish at the rim, as he isn't the most athletic and needs to develop craft and body control around the rim. He has shown some passing ability but I wouldn't say that's a strength of his yet. 

Defensively, Hardy has a long way to go to be even an average defender. He doesn't put much effort in on that end of the floor, and loses focus off the ball. He doesn't navigate screens well and can get beat off the dribble easily. He's undersized for a wing at 6'4", but at least has a long wingspan at 6'9". 

Overall, Hardy has a lot of traits to your classic score-first combo guard. He could have a successful career in the vein of someone like Jordan Clarkson, but that would take him hitting tough off-the-dribble jumpers enough that it's worth letting him take those shots over other opportunities for the offense. Regardless, Hardy looks like good value as a 2nd round pick, even getting some playoff minutes in 2024, although not all that consistently.
 
Cap Considerations
Hardy's $2 million salary for 2024-2025 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Mavericks will have no form of Bird rights on him. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so, as his contract doesn't fit within the minimum salary exception as it was a three-year contract.

If Hardy becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If Hardy is waived and clears waivers, his value will likely have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.