The Pacers finally get a much-needed answer on the TJ Warren front

After a continuum of truncated comebacks that never seemed to be on the verge of actually happening, the Indiana Pacers finally clinched clarity on the TJ Warren front. With him now sitting out the rest of the campaign to prepare for the following season, the team and fans alike have now been spared from the unending line of speculations.

Woj added that Warren made a full recovery from his foot injury that sidelined him for almost two full seasons, but both the team and his representatives agreed that it would make more sense for the free agent-to-be to prepare for a crucial summer entering the next campaign.

While some fans, including me, still wanted to catch a glimpse of Warren donning the blue and gold on the court to better gauge his value with the team’s relatively new core, there is no chance of that happening now, giving the front office a lot of pondering on deck for his free agency.

The Indiana Pacers take a step forward in resolving the TJ Warren dilemma

With the slight window to evaluate TJ Warren now out of the woods for the Indiana Pacers, how they approach his free agency will certainly be a point of curiosity for a lot of onlookers over the summer.

While the Pacers could easily retain Warren if they want to, as the forward has repeatedly expressed his preference to stay in Indiana and the team owns his Bird rights, keeping him would be a tricky proposition.

Some teams with ample cap space to sign him outright, like the Trail Blazers and the Spurs, have glaring needs in the forward position. Meanwhile, more competitive clubs in need of an upgrade, particularly those with draft capital, could sneak themselves in as potential sign-and-trade candidates with the Pacers.

Fortunately, Indiana should have the leverage in all transactions involving TJ Warren, in light of his lengthy absence due to injury. It remains to be seen if there are teams with express willingness to ink him to a handsome deal that will be enough to force the Pacers into matching, if they are intent on keeping him at all.

Thus, while tricky for reasons of fit and the element of gamble, the Pacers could keep him on a reasonable deal or retain him to be a trade candidate later, if the move doesn’t work out. As a refresher, Warren was the team’s best scorer in their last playoff season and has improved enough on defense to be more than reliable on most nights.

Nonetheless, while it’s unfortunate that TJ Warren never sniffed the court in two seasons, the Indiana Pacers can finally move with more conviction instead of walking on a glass bridge with his situation.

And more importantly for us fans, we can finally rid ourselves of blind faith from Rick Carlisle‘s famous “weeks, not months” spiel.