Veteran NBA forward T.J. Warren has just inked a second 10-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team announced in a press release. The deal will keep him in Minnesota through March 25th. Warren was initially added on his first 10-day deal earlier this month, as essentially an emergency rotation addition to help cushion the blow of losing All-Star Minnesota power forward Karl-Anthony Towns.
On Tuesday, Towns went under the knife to address a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. Per an earlier Timberwolves press statement, the seven-footer out of Kentucky was expected to have the knee reappraised four weeks from the initial procedure. Though he will not be back in time for this final stretch of Minnesota’s regular season, the wording of the statement seems to indicate that there’s a chance he is back when the club heads into the playoffs.
At 45-21, the Timberwolves are currently the third seed in the Western Conference. The club is currently just 1.5 contests behind the top-seeded Denver Nuggets (47-20), and just one full game behind the 46-20 Oklahoma City Thunder, the West’s second seed. Warren has been a key part of the club’s frontcourt rotation off the bench. Big man Naz Reid has been brought in as the Timberwolves’ KAT replacement in their first five.
He was dusted off by the Timberwolves this month after not being able to find a landing place at any other time this season. The 6’8″ North Carolina State product, still just 30, was selected at the end of the NBA draft lottery in 2014 by the Phoenix Suns, with the No. 14 pick. He developed into a prolific scorer by his fourth season with Phoenix. Across 65 contests in 2017-18, he averaged 19.6 points on 49.8% shooting from the floor, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, one steal and 0.6 blocks. Warren finished among the top 25 vote-getters league-wide for Most Improved Player honors.
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Warren was flipped from Phoenix to the Indiana Pacers in the summer of 2019 for cash. He continued his high-scoring tear with Indiana. Warren evolved into being a lethal three-level scorer during that first Pacers season, averaging a career-most 19.8 points on .536/.403/.819 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout across 67 contests (out of 73 during a pandemic-abbreviated season). The emergent wing was honored on the NBA’s All-Bubble First Team while averaging 31 points in eight bubble contests during the season’s 2020 COVID-19 era Orlando Disneyworld restart.
That’s when the trouble started. Warren has been beset by the injury bug for several years. He incurred a left navicular stress fracture that required surgery early in the 2020-21 season, missing all but four games across the ensuing two seasons. He joined a star-laden Brooklyn Nets squad, led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal in 2022, and was flipped back to the Suns as part of the Durant trade near that season’s deadline.
Post-injury, Warren may never be the explosive athlete and dynamic scorer he was just a few years ago, but in limited minutes it seems like he can still contribute to a winning program. In his four bouts with Minnesota thus far this year, Warren is averaging 4.8 points on 47.4% shooting from the floor, two rebounds and 0.8 dimes a night. His new deal will carry him through the club’s next five games. If Minnesota wants to keep him around after this agreement expires, it will need to sign him to a rest-of-season contract.
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