TJ Warren – F, Indiana Pacers
Sometimes, you just need a change of scenery for the sake of it. There’s no real reason other than a feeling – like it’s time to move on, move elsewhere, and acquire new digs because your old ones don’t feel right anymore. It happened to me once, back when I was a sophomore in high school working at Moe’s Southwest Grill – they told me not to worry about washing all the queso off the pan, that they would still use it even if it wasn’t fully clean. And so, fearing for my stomach and life, I fled. It happens… though this case probably shouldn’t.
The same thing – well, kind of – goes for TJ Warren, who has appeared in just four games since the start of the 2020-21 season, and none since December 2020. He had season-ending foot surgery in 2020, rehabbed, thought about returning this season, but subsequently reached an agreement with the Indiana Pacers to sit him for the remainder of the season.
With the team going nowhere, it was probably the sensible move; per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Warren “has fully recovered now, but discussions between the Pacers and his representatives concluded that returning to play so late in a season that won’t include playoffs for the Pacers made less sense than starting preparations for next year.”
I’m just not so sure that Warren’s preparations for next year should (or will) be in the interest of suiting back up for the Pacers. Since arriving in Indiana, he’s averaged 19.5 points and just north of four rebounds per game. He broke out in the 2020 bubble, dropping a career-high 53 points in a win over the 76ers and torching the competition en route to – you guessed it – a first-round sweep at the hands of the Miami Heat. That’s essentially Indiana’s routine nowadays. That is, if they make it to the playoffs, something the Pacers have failed to do in each of the last two seasons.
Who knows how much post-bubble capital is even left for Warren to capitalize upon. Probably none. If the bubble still mattered in the context of 2022, Nikola Vucevic would be considered among the NBA’s best centers. But there was more to Warren before his streak of injuries than his epic performance in Disney World. He’s a wildly effective perimeter presence whose high release point has thwarted even the lankiest defenders.
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He’s a scorer first and foremost, one that a contender would relish adding. In Indiana, Warren is an All-Star candidate who’s bound to get by (and paid) on his numbers alone. Elsewhere, he perfectly fits the mold of a second or third bucket-getter who could contribute to deep playoff runs.
He becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason. He’d be wise to explore his options before defaulting back to dropping 25-plus while winning 25-30 games per season in Hoosier land.
