Has Tim Hardaway played his last game in a Denver Nuggets jersey?  He certainly has for this season anyway, the veteran guard having season-ending surgery after suffering a broken left foot March 23 against Seattle.  But after signing a three year contract worth $11.3 million with Dallas last off season then being involved in the trade that saw Nick Van Exel and Raef LaFrentz join Mark Cuban, the $1,000,000 buyout option negotiated with the contending Mavericks now belongs to the Nuggets, who must decide what they are going to do by the 2002 NBA draft.

"I haven't talked to Kiki (Vandeweghe, the Nuggets GM) a whole lot about it, but obviously we will once the season is over," Hardaway's agent, Henry Thomas said. "We'll identify the things that are important to Tim and what's important to Kiki in the development of the team, and just go from there."