5 bold predictions for the Indiana Pacers in 2022

2. TJ Warren re-signs with the Indiana Pacers… in an ugly overpay

TJ Warren, who failed to play a game in the entire 2021 calendar year, including all contests this season so far, remains one of the biggest mysteries for the Indiana Pacers, if only because it’s difficult to gauge his value for the franchise as he enters free agency.

However, with both sides seemingly committed to each other, I expect the verdict on Warren to arrive more seamlessly than expected. It wouldn’t even surprise me if the Pacers immediately mount a lofty offer to shrug off interested clubs right from the start, though it would surely prompt them to overpay for the forward’s services.

The threshold for an overpay, in Warren’s case, is hard to project in quantifiable terms, but given Indiana’s misgivings on either a youth movement or a retooling, it will be hard to blame them for trying to keep an asset like Warren, who should easily attract suitors prospectively, even if it means paying him above his market value.