What is T.J. Warren worth, and what is he worth to the Indiana Pacers?

What to expect moving forward?

Since the Pacers can’t offer an extension to Warren until the summer of 2021, Victor Oladipo will almost definitely be the first domino to fall in regards to what options the team has. That may come in the form of a four-year, $113 million extension that could be agreed to any time this season, or could be whether or not the Pacers and Oladipo come to an agreement in free agency.

There could also be trades between then and now that drastically change what the Pacers look like on the court and on the cap sheet. A lot can change in a season, and the team does have some short term questions they need to answer before they get too far ahead of themselves.

But keeping an eye on the future while addressing the present is what great front offices do, so there is no doubt this thought has made it’s way through Bankers Life already.

My evaluation of Warren’s potential deal could be way off, and if Oladipo ends up leaving then the Pacers will have plenty of space to work with. This past free agency period showed that teams have no problem overpaying for wings, but it’s possible Warren could take less than my projected market value in the form of a long term extension.

Even though that would provide the team a little more wiggle room, the Pacers would have to find more players like Warren to squeeze all the value they can out of that few million dollars to stay towards the top of the East while staying under the salary tax.

All that said, T.J. Warren is without question one of the best value contracts in the league for the next two years at arguably the most important position in the league. While the Pacers have a more high profile decision to make with Oladipo, retaining T.J. Warren should be very high on Kevin Pritchard‘s list of priorities, especially if he can bring some of that bubble magic to the Pacers this year.