The Sacramento Kings continue to search for power forward depth. Not only will 12-year NBA veteran Jae Crowder be working out for them this week, nine-year NBA veteran TJ Warren will as well, per The Athletic’s Sam Amick. Nassir Little, a five-year NBA veteran, is also in play for the Kings.
Per sources, the Kings are working out TJ Warren this week. The 31-year-old who averaged a career-high 19.8 points for the Pacers in 2019-20 last played with Minnesota last season (11 games).
The Kings have Jae Crowder and Nassir Little in this week as well. (@SeanCunningham…
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 16, 2024
With the Kings trading away starting forward Harrison Barnes this offseason, they now need a player who can knock down 3s and play sound defense.
Kings Set To Work Out NBA Bubble Standout TJ Warren
Barnes may never have lived up to the lofty expectations of a top-10 pick.
Nonetheless, he was a largely reliable player who took his responsibilities seriously. His professionalism off the court and his focus on it have helped him start in 913 of his 982 career games (playoffs included). In his time with Sacramento, the Iowa native averaged 14.7 points per game and converted 38.7 percent of his 3s.
Multi-time All-Star, DeMar DeRozan, is obviously set to replace him in the lineup. Yet, he’s a completely different player than Barnes, changing the offensive dynamic.
Unfortunately for the Kings, DeRozan’s primary weakness —3-point shooting —has become a staple of NBA offenses. In 15 seasons, DeRozan has made just 29.6 percent of his 3s. He’s been a bit better over the past five seasons, shooting 32.2 percent from beyond the arc. Nonetheless, it remains his least threatening weapon.
Now, Sacramento has turn to options like Warren, Crowder, and Little to make up the difference.
It Might Come Down TJ Warren’s Health
Right off the bat, Warren is a career 35.1 percent 3-point shooter. Based on his body of work, he’s not an upper echelon 3-point threat, but he’s certainly more reliable from outside than DeRozan. Nonetheless, he’s streaky. In the first six seasons of his career, he shot below 27 percent from 3 as many times as he made at least 40 percent of his 3-point attempts.
If signed by the Kings, the biggest question will be how he looks physically. Warren’s last stretch of dominance came during the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
In that stretch, he averaged 20.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.3 steals per game on 36.8 percent shooting from 3. Had been on a tear ever since entering the NBA bubble though, averaging 31.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. He also hit an eye-popping 52.4 percent of his 3s on 7.0 attempts per game.
Frankly, he’s a far more capable scorer than either Crowder or Little. If healthy, there really shouldn’t be much question of who they should sign. Yet, Warren has only played 52 games (playoffs included) since undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot in Dec. 2020. This includes missing all of the 2021-22 season to rehab.
Since then, the 31-year-old has had inconsistent roles, but put together several noteworthy performances.
