The Indiana Pacers entered the 2020-21 season hoping to continue building off of a solid, even if unspectacular 2019-20 campaign. With Domantas Sabonis coming off his best season and the emergence of T.J. Warren in the Bubble, there was plenty to be optimistic about, but Warren suffered a foot fracture in late December after a solid start to the season and has been out ever since.
Warren had surgery in January and there had been hope he might return for the Pacers’ playoff push, but on Thursday the team announced that he was officially done for the season.
Injury Update: T.J. Warren will be out for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
More info: https://t.co/arUeMLNJNf pic.twitter.com/yPEl8ms1cT
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) March 25, 2021
It’s a major blow to Indiana’s hopes of making much of a run in the postseason this year. After trading Victor Oladipo, they struggled mightily with finding enough perimeter scoring punch to keep up in games until Caris LeVert’s was finally able to play. With LeVert, they’ve once again looked like a solid playoff team, but without Warren it’s hard to imagine them as being dynamic enough to keep pace with the East’s best. Warren will hopefully be back next year in a contract year for him, as he hits free agency in 2022, and the Pacers will have to proceed the rest of this season without him and determine their best course of action for building this summer, with him back in the picture for next year.
