The Brooklyn Nets are playing extremely well with T.J. Warren in the lineup, and suddenly, they look like serious contenders to win the championship.
After being named All-Bubble First Team in 2020, due to a stress fracture, Warren played just four games in 2020-21 and then miss all of last season. Out of sight and out of mind, he signed a one-year, veteran minimum deal with the Nets during this past offseason.
Although he missed the first 23 games of the season, Warren made his debut for Brooklyn on Dec. 2. Since then, the Nets are 9-1 in games he has played thus far and they show no signs of slowing down.
Most notably, Warren had his best game of the season on Monday, recording 23 points (9-14 FG, 2-4 3P) against the Cavaliers. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both had 20-point performances as well.
How did the league let the Nets get T.J. Warren
— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) December 27, 2022
There was little doubt, however, that Warren (who dropped 53 points on Philadelphia in the bubble) could score. His jumper is efficient off the catch, off the dribble, and from midrange and he apparently hasn’t lost any of his athleticism on his dunks.
But there are also areas where Warren actually looks better than ever.
His defense looks very solid and his ball control looks good, too, as his turnover rate (5.1 percent) is currently the best of his career and ranks in the 95th percentile among all forwards, per Cleaning the Glass.
Additionally, his playmaking has taken a significant leap forward as well. Just watch this alley-oop pass to Ben Simmons from last week:
SPECIAL DELIVERY pic.twitter.com/0yZye15SPf
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 22, 2022
His assist-to-usage ratio, which is used to measure how often a player recorded an assist relative to how often they had the ball, had never ranked better than the 17th percentile among players at his position.
This season, however, Warren ranks in the 70th percentile for this metric.
Warren is having a career-best campaign for frequency recording potential assists, via PBPStats. This is an incredibly important development for the 6-foot-8 forward:
| Season | Team | Potential Assists Per 100 Possessions |
| 2014-15 | Phoenix Suns | 5.46 |
| 2015-16 | Phoenix Suns | 4.76 |
| 2016-17 | Phoenix Suns | 4.56 |
| 2017-18 | Phoenix Suns | 4.48 |
| 2018-19 | Phoenix Suns | 5.60 |
| 2019-20 | Phoenix Suns | 4.18 |
| 2021-21 | Indiana Pacers | 3.64 |
| 2022-23 | Brooklyn Nets | 7.55 |
This has translated well for Brooklyn’s star-powered offense, which has scored an additional 14.3 points per 100 possessions when Warren is on the court relative to when he is not.
Brooklyn’s offensive rating with Warren (124.3) is the best among all players in the NBA who have logged at least 15 minutes per game.
Expectedly, that spikes even higher (138.1) when Warren plays alongside Durant and Irving, which would be the best offense among all 3-man lineups (minimum: 35 minutes) so far in 2022-23.
Warren makes an intimidating offense even more dominant when he plays alongside Durant and Irving. But if he can provide scoring help during the minutes when Durant and Irving are not on the court, when the Nets are currently getting killed, it will be crucial for their postseason success.
