Indiana Pacers: Will T.J. Warren return this season?

The Indiana Pacers have just 13 games remaining in the 2021-22 NBA season. Their record as it stands currently is 22-45, the worst I’ve personally seen and their third-worst season overall since 1984-85.

The Indiana Pacers have just 28 days left in this season. Is that enough time or reason to get T.J. Warren back on the court?

Although there is still time left this season, T.J. Warren has been out since Jan. 05, 2021. That was 429 days ago.

Fans had high hopes for Warren going into his second season at the time under head coach Nate Bjorkgren. After playing the first four games of the 2020-21 NBA season, Warren would undergo surgery. We haven’t seen him since.

Who would have thought this is how the 2021-22 season would go for Indiana? What started as, “weeks, not months” away for Warren turned into jeopardy of missing the entire season, which seems likely at this point.

At practice last Thursday, Rick Carlisle gave no update on Warren’s status. The last known update came in January when it was said the Warren was playing 1 on 1 in practice and doing some shooting.

Warren’s only season in an Indiana Pacers’ uniform saw him play 67 games in the 2019-20 season. That season would conclude with the NBA bubble in Florida, where warren would score his career-high 53 points against the 76ers, hitting 9 of his 12 three-point attempts.

Warren is currently in the last year of his 3-year contract with the Pacers. After this season, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He has expressed interest in remaining in Indiana via multiple reports throughout his Pacers tenure.

I believe the Pacers would welcome Warren back on a more team-friendly deal, of course, money talks a lot more than the words in this article. However, his fit would be interesting to see with the new structure of this team’s roster.

Without a two big lineup, Warren playing the 3/4 positions alongside Tyrese Haliburton and Malcolm Brogdon would bring an exciting offensive front and add to the depth of the roster.

Whatever Indiana decides to do with Warren, more roster shakeup is going to happen with this team and the Pacers are in a strong position to retool this roster if the draft lottery goes their way.

If Warren is able, I am sure the team would like to see some sample as to his fit with its young core of players. However, the Pacers have just 13 games remaining and are currently 5th in the lottery odds.

Losing games is the more ideal outcome for the future of the team, and if T.J. Warren isn’t in the plans going forward, there isn’t much benefit to him seeing the court for those games.