T.J. Warren
When healthy, the 14th pick in the 2014 draft has been a decent player. Warren averaged 14 points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal per game this past season. The problem though, is Warren has been hampered with injuries throughout his young career. He has played no more than 66 games in a season. During his second year, Warren broke his foot, missing the final 34 games of the season, and was sidelined for a total of nine months. This past season, the small forward suffered a head injury and was forced to miss 13 games.
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While Warren has shown potential with Phoenix, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if the team wanted to move on from him. The Suns are in a complete rebuild mode. With the fourth pick in the draft, Phoenix is very likely to take a wing like Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum, or Jonathan Isaac. Warren is eligible for an extension this Fall. That being said, why would a rebuilding team like Phoenix want to pay him tens of millions of dollars when they could spend more time and less money developing their top pick?
The Suns are clearly Devin Booker’s team, and Warren looks to be the odd man out. This is the time for the organization to sell on him while they still can, and acquire another asset to build around.
As a wing, Warren could help the Thunder fill an area of need. At 6’8, he has shown the ability to create his own shot. He has a soft touch and is a great finisher around the rim. Coincidentally, some of his best games have come against the Thunder. On October 28th, he scored a career-high 30 points on 13-18 shooting in a 113-110 overtime loss versus OKC. On April 7th, Warren scored 23 points on 10-15 shooting, and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in a 120-99 win against the Thunder.
The main concern with Warren is that he isn’t much of a three-point shooter. He was only 26-98 this past season. Arguably Oklahoma City’s biggest problem on offense this past year was that there wasn’t enough space for Westbrook to drive and create. If Warren can’t hit threes, defenses won’t play out on him and continue to clog the lane.
Despite being plagued with injuries, Warren has managed to improve each and every season, both on offense and defense. Again, if OKC can talk Phoenix into giving up Warren for the 21st pick, it’s a trade that makes sense for both teams. Warren could either start at small forward, or be a featured player in the second unit. Either way, he would be a much-needed upgrade for this team.