Last Night's Winner: Tim Hardaway, Bailed Out By The Heat

For mysterious reasons, the Heat purchased Hardaway's Miami mansion. Maybe not so mysterious: Hardaway's having problems with unpaid back taxes.

Hardaway, like many other professional athletes who banked tens of millions of dollars over their careers, has been having trouble paying his taxes. Over the summer, while the Heat were tossing near-max and veteran minimum dollars at everyone in sight, the IRS filed a lien against Hardaway and his suburban Miami house.

And what a house. Five bedroom, five-and-a-half bath, 6-car garage, swimming pool, and full-length basketball court emblazoned with the Heat logo. We think the logo was there before the Heat took it off Hardaway's hands.

Why would they buy it? They're not talking. But one might assume they're doing a favor for an old valued employee, seeing as how his semi-steady radio work apparently isn't enough to pay off his $120,000 lien. Or, one might cynically offer that they're taking advantage of an old valued employee who needs cash now. They paid him $1.985 million for the mansion, and put it right back on the market for an asking price of $2.5 million. That difference is probably enough to cover the eventual, inevitable Allen Iverson signing.