UTEP legend Tim Hardaway makes Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Tim Hardaway's long wait is over. The UTEP legend is headed to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in its 2022 class.

More than three decades after his Miner career ended in 1989, 20 years after his playing career ended and 15 years after he became eligible for the Hall, Hardaway joined his long-time Golden State teammates Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond in the Hall of Fame.

The formal announcement is set for Friday during the men's Final Four, but reports broke Thursday evening, initially by Monte Poole of NBC Sports.

Hardaway was the engine for Golden State's Run with Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond, dubbed Run TMC. He began his pro career in 1990 by making the NBA all-rookie first team and went on to become a five-time all-star who recorded 15,373 points and 7,095 points in his 14-year NBA career. He won an Olympic gold medal in 2000.

Before that, he was known for the "UTEP two-step" crossover dribble that helped him become the WAC player of the year in 1989. That year he also won the national Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award that goes to the best collegiate player 6-feet or under (he was 6-0).

Tim Hardaway UTEP basketball stats

Hardaway scored 1,586 points in a career that landed him in UTEP's Athletic Hall of Fame and saw his No. 10 retired. He is second in school history with 563 assists and leads in steals.

He joins his coach Don Haskins (1997), Nate Archibald (1991), Nolan Richardson (2014) and the 1966 team (2007) as former Miners in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

He last was in El Paso in 2019 to watch a UTEP game against Middle Tennessee, which marked his first trip back to the Sun City after his jersey retirement ceremony in 2012.

"I'm happy to be back, I'm always happy to come back, this is like a second home to me," he said in 2019. "This is where my career started off, playing the game of basketball, learning how to play the game of basketball under the tutelage of Don Haskins, the great Hall of Famer.

"I've been grateful ever since then. Without coming here, without being here at UTEP — me coming from a big city — people here opened their arms, opened their families, hugging me, embracing me the way they did, I never would have made it to how I played in the NBA."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Tim Hardaway makes Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame