{"id":65626,"date":"2024-03-02T11:39:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T16:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=65626"},"modified":"2024-03-02T11:39:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T16:39:01","slug":"nba-news-minnesota-timberwolves-sign-nba-veteran-tj-warren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/02\/nba-news-minnesota-timberwolves-sign-nba-veteran-tj-warren\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA News: Minnesota Timberwolves Sign NBA Veteran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Per The Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, the Minnesota Timberwolves have signed veteran forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/warretj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TJ Warren<\/a> to a 10-day contract. Warren last played 42 combined games for the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns during the 2022-23 season. In those games, the forward averaged 7.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Warren is perhaps best known for his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XG5tg7WOpwI\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">53-point performance<\/a> in the 2020 NBA bubble.<\/p>\n<p>Warren has had injury problems in recent history, including missing the entire 2021-22 season, but according to the man himself, he is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/2023\/11\/24\/tj-warren-im-100-percent-healthy-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100% healthy<\/a>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019m 100 percent healthy now. The foot injuries were a part of my career during those two years. I feel like I was reaching a crazy pinnacle right around the bubble. It was a great situation. Unfortunately, I had the injuries, and it set me back a little bit. I want to go out there and prove myself like I always have my whole career, being kind of under the radar. I feel like my production speaks for itself. I understand the concerns because two years was a long time, especially when you don\u2019t know the situation thoroughly, but I\u2019m completely healthy now and looking forward to the opportunity to prove myself again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The 42-18 Timberwolves are just 0.5 games ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No.1 seed in the Western Conference. Minnesota hopes that Warren can help give them a late-season push ahead of the playoffs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Minnesota Timberwolves are planning to sign free agent F TJ Warren on a 10-day contract, pending physical exam early this week, sources tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheAthletic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Stadium<\/a>. Minnesota has monitored the 8-year NBA vet throughout the season. Warren is a career 15 points per game scorer. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oPG0ZJHmTm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/oPG0ZJHmTm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1763943713233854917?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>NBA News: Minnesota Timberwolves Sign NBA Veteran<\/h2>\n<h3>What TJ Warren Brings to the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/h3>\n<p>The 30-year-old brings an equal amount off the court as he does on the court. In November, Warren talked about <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/2023\/11\/24\/tj-warren-i-can-provide-teams-experience-crazy-work-ethic-and-a-veteran-presence\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">what he can offer<\/a> to NBA teams:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I think I can provide experience, a crazy work ethic, and be somebody that comes in and goes hard at all levels. I can connect with the young guys and be a veteran presence. This will be my 10th season, so I\u2019ve been around for a while. I feel like I\u2019m a lead-by-example type of guy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Additionally, Warren will immediately provide bench scoring for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/20\/2023-24-nba-power-rankings-offseason-edition-no-16-minnesota-timberwolves\/\" target=\"_self\">Timberwolves<\/a>. Warren is a career 14.6-point-per-game scorer and has largely assumed a bench role since the bubble. Furthermore, Warren is a career 50.6% shooter from the field, including 35.4% from beyond the arc. Warren&#8217;s offensive versatility off the bench should boost Minnesota&#8217;s second unit greatly.<\/p>\n<p>At 6&#8217;8&#8243;, Warren is capable of playing both forward positions well. Though he is not an elite defender, Warren can hold his own. Regardless, the Timberwolves currently lead the NBA with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/defense?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">108 Defensive Rating<\/a>. Even if he can help, Warren&#8217;s defensive game will not matter too much on the team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Wolves have signed TJ Warren to a 10-day contract. His stats last season:<\/p>\n<p>7.5 PPG<br \/>\n2.9 RPG<br \/>\n48.9 FG%<br \/>\n32.8 3P%<br \/>\n80.0 FT%<br \/>\n16.4 MPG<br \/>\n42 GP<\/p>\n<p>Your thoughts? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9tXPDFMUJn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9tXPDFMUJn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MNMuse (@statmusewolves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/statmusewolves\/status\/1763944927401042239?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>We have not seen Warren on the court in almost a year. Still, he looked effective when active. Signing a 10-day deal with a title contender is a good, prove-it deal for Warren. It remains to be seen how much Warren will play on this contract. Even so, if he can play well in his new opportunity, Warren may have a new home in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Per The Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, the Minnesota Timberwolves have signed veteran forward TJ Warren to a 10-day contract. Warren last played 42 combined games for the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns during the 2022-23 season. In those games, the forward averaged 7.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Warren is perhaps best known for his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":65631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,6,21,3,22,28],"tags":[49059,3761,297,202,353,3142],"class_list":["post-65626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-nets","category-timberwolves","category-news","category-thunder","category-suns","tag-2024-nba-free-agents","tag-nba-bubble","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-news","tag-t-j-warren","tag-tj-warren"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}